It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped
by Nessaiya
Summary: Something life-altering changes everything – and suddenly, some decisions are really easy to make.
1. Frozen silence

**Story:** something life-altering changes everything – and suddenly, some decisions are really easy to make.

 **Author's note:** Ok, people, this is going to be a huge one. I've been majorly obsessed with Tony and J.A.R.V.I.S., and more recently also with Loki for quite some time now, and needed a way to get all of it out of my system. This is going to be another 40 chapter monster, and I have no clue how it turned to be a crossover with Grey's Anatomy in later chapters... that just happened along the way. Oh, and my Bruce looks like Edward Norton… Mark Ruffalo is just so… hairy…

 **Disclaimer:** Not mine. Unfortunately.

* * *

 **It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 1: Frozen Silence**_

 _Sometimes, it's the smallest decision that can change your life forever. (Keri Russell)_

* * *

Natasha Romanoff was a practical person. Why should one discuss for hours about which solution might be the best, when you could use what you had at hand, and then see what would come next and deal with it as it came?

"I can close it. Does anybody copy? I can shut the portal down!" Holding Loki's scepter, she prepared to do what she just had proclaimed, not knowing if their intercom devices still worked, far from caring whether anyone had a problem with her ending the Chitauri invasion right now.

"No, wait!" a voice over the intercom exclaimed, calmer than each of the other fighting or portal-shutting Avengers felt in the moment.

Utter confusion radiated over the comlink, even though nobody was actually talking. Why on earth would Stark want them to wait?

"Stark, these things are still coming!" Captain America almost growled. Talking of Loki being an full-tilt diva. Stark was just the same, needing a big entrance!

Tony rolled his eyes. As if he did not know that they were still coming. He had taken down three of these whale thingies, and they still kept coming. Obviously, the other members of this Muppet show of super heroes had not seen him take off to catch the nuclear missile.

Right. Fury had called him, and not used the comlink they established to communicate.

"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute."

Tony was biting his lip, cracking a cut open again that had just stopped bleeding, calculating what could be done to avert a nuclear explosion in the center of Manhattan.

His eyes scanned the portal, damning Fury at the same time. He was the only one who could fly, he was the only one who would come up with _this_ solution. He was the one who was self-destructive enough to actually do the only thing that made sense.

"And I know just where to put it", he said as he caught the missile.

Rogers heard a round of gasps while still trying to figure out what exactly a "nuke" was. Thor was already watching the sky where the hot-rod red and golden suit came in, carrying something on his back, a strained groan radiating over the comlink as Iron Man pushed the thing on his back upwards.

Obviously, it was a missile, and obviously, Stark was aiming for the portal now.

"Stark, you know that's a one way trip…?!"

Tony rolled his eyes again. Thank you very much for reminding him of _THAT_. It was an easy decision, though – either thousands of humans would die, or thousands of Chitauri. He smirked at himself.

He of all people? Iron Man was going to save the day?!

* * *

They gathered around the motionless suit, removing the mask to find the unconscious man inside who woke with a start as the Hulk screamed at him.

Restless eyes flickered open, taking in his surroundings, this was no cave, he still had all parts of his body in the right place, and obviously he had just saved the world.

Tony Stark didn't feel relieved; he did not feel overjoyed that from now on he could make jokes about having nuked outta space.

He felt like running. The motionless suit was confining him, it was pushing him down, rendering him more or less motionless just by its sheer weight, when the servos where not operating.

Three faces were still looking at him, expectantly, so he did, what he always did. Make a joke, distract people… pray that J.A.R.V.I.S. just needed a few more seconds to get the suit back online.

"What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me?!"

Thor looked confused. Steve rolled his eyes. The Hulk… smirked? Tony half-smirked back. He liked that guy.

"We won", Captain America stated, making him almost sigh with relief. Good. At least nobody had to try and take the suit apart shrew by shrew to free him in the middle of a raging battlefield, when he was not even sure if he could still stand upright without his external armor.

"Alright. Hey. Alright. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Have you ever tried Shawarma? There's a Shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it." He was babbling and he knew it.

While Thor stated that they were not done yet, Tony started to panic. He could not move!

"And then Shawarma after. Gimme the HUD!"

Three blank faces watched him, and he prayed to a deity he didn't believe in that they didn't realize how his breathing became more elaborate. The abbreviation of head-up-display obviously rang no bells.

"Give me my mask! Put it back in place!" he almost yelled, once more being frowned at, but at least Thor now moved.

"Just get up, you don't need the face-cover when we confront Loki", Steve stated, and Tony decided that, indeed, the Hulk was the one of this bunch of superheroes he liked the best.

"Suit's systems are offline, I cannot even properly lift my arm", he grouched, sending the super-soldier a glare. "I need J.A.R.V.I.S. to get it back to operating."

He ignored Steve's smirk, most probably finding his conclusions concerning the tin man and his interiors confirmed.

Thor put the HUD in place before he could give the Captain a piece of his mind or burst into tears, a trail of wetness running back to his ears after he heard the mask being connected after some seconds. At least they could not see his face now, his mask slipping, exhaustion and fear taking over. At least they could not hear his trembling voice when he called out to his AI.

"J.A.R.V.I.S.?"

Nothing.

"J, Buddy, you there?!

Still, nothing.

"J.A.R.V.I.S.?! Are you there?! Answer me, Buddy!"

Three people (okay, one super-soldier, one Demigod, and a green rage monster… isn't there a joke that starts like this?) outside the suit shared another confused and helpless look. He was loud enough to be heard now, even though they could not make out what he was saying.

The HUD flickered, taking another second to finally boot. Before he could call out to his AI another time, J.A.R.V.I.S. addressed him.

" _Sir… I lost the connection to the suit… I am sorry"_ , the polite, British voice of his co-pilot said, and this time, Tony didn't even try to hide that he was crying.

"It's okay, J, I didn't build this thing to fly into another dimension. You alright?"

J.A.R.V.I.S. hesitated for a millisecond that was long enough to be recognized.

" _I am safely stored on my home server, Sir. Though, taking care of you would be a lot easier if something like that would not happen again."_ AI speak for _Gosh, I'm glad you survived, don't do that ever again._ Tony softly smiled at the answer.

"We should come up with something, huh?"

" _Yes, we should. Connection has been re-established, Sir. I recommend visiting a hospital; you are mildly concussed and bleeding."_

"Anything broken or life-threatening, Mom?" Tony joked, sighing as he was finally able to move again, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

" _No, but Miss Potts will arrive in less than one hour, so that might change",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. retorted, making Tony laugh and frown at the same time.

"I missed you, J. And I actually told Pepper to move her cute tush to somewhere safe!"

" _The jet has turned with designation New York and you have two missed calls from Miss Pott's cellphone. Do you wish to call back?"_

Before he could answer, someone knocked on the suit.

"Hey, you ready, finally, or do we need a can-opener?"

Gritting his teeth, Tony lifted his head to look at Mr. Star-spangled-banner. Not everybody was running on some super-serum; give the regular guy in a high-tech suit a minute to catch his breath, will you?!

Getting to his feet, he looked at the Demigod and the green monster. Straightening his form he turned to Steve again.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., do a check on the control surfaces."

" _Sir, the suit is ready to go, there is no need..."_

"Just do it, J", Tony said softly. "Humor me, huh?"

" _As you wish, Sir"_ , the AI answered, and instantly started to move every mobile part of the suit in a sequence from his feet to his shoulders, which was rather impressive, even though Tony was just standing there.

Rogers swallowed, Thor frowned. The Hulk was already climbing up Stark Tower.

" _Test completed, we are ready to take off, Sir."_

"I'm ready to go. Race you to the top, Cap?" he asked out aloud, his tone teasing and just a bit too cheery, while actually feeling tired and a bit dizzy, leaning against the suit that was keeping him upright.

" _I've got you, Sir. I really recommend you visiting an infirmary."_

"J, you can mother-hen me as much as you want when Loki is locked up somewhere safe, I promise. Now, let's take off, and make it look impressive."

If J.A.R.V.I.S. had eyes, he would have rolled them. Still, he also knew where his creator's _never let them see you're bleeding_ philosophy was coming from, having learned from childhood on that every weakness would be taken advantage of. So he spiraled up into the sky, followed suit by the Norse God and his hammer.

Rogers just shook his head. Show-offs.

* * *

Stark Tower was largely intact, the Penthouse had taken most of the damage due to Thor and Loki crashing into each other, the Hulk's irritation with Loki, and some sky dive on Tony's behalf through one of the windows, yet, none of the "whale thingies" had made it close to the building.

Bruce had just turned back to his flesh-colored form with less muscle and gratefully followed Tony's instructions to find his wardrobe to borrow some joggers and a hoodie.

Clint and Natasha were sharing the couch by now, the archer half asleep, the spy watching Steve and Thor discuss with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that were supposed to take care of Loki when a strawberry-blonde in ridiculously high heels entered the room, not even glancing at the Demigods, the men in black, the super-soldier, or the guy that came out of Tony's closet wearing Tony's clothes. Her entire attention was directed at the man in the metal suit.

He had the HUD up, so she could see his face, and over the years she had gotten too good at reading him.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., how urgently do I have to kick Mr. Stark's rear into the direction of any hospital that is still operating?" she asked into the empty room, making more than one head snap around.

" _Sir is mildly concussed and has not slept for over three days. I recommended medical treatment already twice, but he is stubbornly refusing. As always",_ the AI responded, almost sighing at the end of his sentence.

It was Thor and Rogers that were confused the most. Natasha knew J.A.R.V.I.S., the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were busy confining Loki properly, and he was being busy being confined properly, irritatingly quiet and demure, not putting up any resistance. Clint was fast asleep by now. Though, while Thor was contemplating the fact that on Midgard, disembodied voices where talking from the ceiling, Steve had thought of J.A.R.V.I.S. as a person, sitting somewhere in a room, providing whatever Stark needed to keep the suit functional. What this guy was doing here, and who this woman was, was beyond him, though.

Maybe she was his secretary?

The blonde was stepping up to the suit, not caring about her white costume as dirty, scratched up metal fingers gently closed around her waist, and she kissed Stark, which made the super-soldier reconsider his observation.

"Do a full body scan, J.A.R.V.I.S.", she ordered, pecking the billionaire once more.

"Yeah, do a full body scan on Pep, J, and keep the file, just in case!" Tony joked and shook his head at Pepper as she actually swatted the suit.

"I'm fine, Pep, nothing a good sleep wouldn't cure", he said in a softer voice, his eyes locking on hers, the room around them fading.

"You always say that, and then you set dislocated shoulders on your own, or blow yourself up multiple times a day and then blame poor DUM-E."

"Aw, you're always on the kids' side. Last time it _was_ his fault, you know? He's still grounded for that."

Both Thor and Rogers were frowning by now. "Stark has kids?" Steve asked, still working on his astonishment about the blonde woman Stark called Pep. Sure enough the billionaire did not seem the family man type... or monogamous. After Bruce was just smiling, he threw a side glance at Natasha, who was smirking.

"Yeah… sort of…", the spy shrugged.

"And he calls his son Dummy? Poor kid." That was not nice – still, it sounded like Stark. Sadly enough the blonde did not defend the boy…

"It's a robot, Captain, no need to go all moral on him", the redhead smirked, watching the super-soldier's face fall.

"Oh…" Okay, it did sound like Stark to treat a machine like a kid.

Pepper's hands by now had reached up to the helmet, taking it by both sides to gently pull Tony down a bit and rest her forehead against the faceplate.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., open the suit and have a look what's in the fridge, because I bet he also has not eaten for just as long."

"No, J, leave the suit as it is", Tony protested, still not trusting his own legs. And he did have no clue when was the last time he had eaten something, so…

" _Sir was eating on the helicarrier, and the only thing left in the refrigerator is 3 day old pizza. I recommend taking off the suit somewhere where Sir can sit down, though",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. stated, making a note to order food – as soon as any delivery services where up again.

"Don't talk about me as if I were a child, J. I can take care of myself."

" _With all due respect, Sir, without Miss Potts and me you would not be able to tie your shoes."_

Natasha snorted at that comment. She liked the sarcastic wit of the AI. Steve and Thor were still scrutinizing the couple.

"One day I will find that bug in your subroutines and make you less snarky, J. But now, bathroom would be great, a hot bathtub, I feel sweaty, and bloody, and banged up."

" _I already filled the bathtub, and called that Shawarma place you have been mentioning before. They agreed to deliver in case you are hungry."_

"Thanks, J." Turning his attention to Pepper, who by now started to realize that she was not alone with him, but had four people staring at her, he grinned and wriggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Care to join me, Miss Potts? Though, you'll have to do all the work, because, you know, I just nuked outta space and saved the day, and stuff…"

Pepper, and, curiously enough, Captain Rogers, turned bright pink at that comment. J.A.R.V.I.S. set the suit in motion, making Tony feel like a rag doll inside. Pepper had no other choice than going with him, because his arm was locked around her waist.

"Oh, and J, make sure to accommodate our guests… I bet we have a bed for Legolas over there and the other guys… and girl", Tony exclaimed before he was out of the room.

" _As you wish, Sir."_

Natasha by now had turned to wake up Clint, after all, everything one of Stark's guest suites could offer for accommodation was better than a couch – even if it was Stark-approved.

Bruce just smirked at Thor who was still looking at the ceiling.

"Artificial intelligence, that's cool. You passed the Turing test?" he asked into the room.

" _Every time I have been tested. Though Sir did only test me once, and then stated it was a waste of time."_

"Testing yourself, huh? You connected to the entire Penthouse?"

" _I am running all of Sir's mansions and Stark Tower. Miss Romanoff, Dr. Banner, Captain Rogers, Mr. Barton, Mr. Odinson, please enter the elevator."_

The Norse God and the soldier hesitantly entered, while both spies and the physicist just shrugged and stepped into the cabin that opened right before them.

* * *

"Okay, J, stop fussing and open the suit. Pepper has dragged my sorry, drunk ass multiple times around the entire house, she'll be fine", Tony exclaimed, as the suit maneuvered as close as possible towards the bathtub, and only the upper half was removed part by part from his body.

Also Pepper frowned at no one in particular, since J.A.R.V.I.S. consisted of computational subroutines and the wiring in the walls.

" _I would not recommend Miss Potts carrying heavy things, including your sorry ass, in her current condition, Sir",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. intoned, now having both humans frown at the ceiling.

"What condition could I be in that would make me incapable of lifting Tony?" Pepper asked. Yes, he was heavy, but that had never stopped her. And no matter how drunk he was, he always had managed to be of some help. Now, that he was sober, getting him into the bathtub should be a piece of cake.

" _Sir asked me before to do a full body scan and I discovered a 128 cell blastocyst implanting in your endometrium. Congratulations."_

Pepper needed a few seconds longer than Tony to translate this. When her eyes grew wide with realization he was already making a self-confident comment on the quality of his scanners. When her mind got _Oh my God_ , Tony tilted his head at her, watching her closely.

When her eyes started to water, her brain doing double takes in how to explain to him that she did not plan this, that she never intended baby trapping him, and _oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, what am I going to do now?!,_ a cocky grin appeared on his face.

She knew that grin, every time he managed to achieve something the world (or one person, didn't matter) had told him it was not possible, he wore this smug, self-satisfied expression, telling anyone _I did it anyway_.

He was proud of himself!

"Good Lord, Stark, wipe that grin out of your face, you're not the first guy to knock up his girlfriend!" she exclaimed, making him laugh out loud while putting some effort into setting the lower half of his suit in motion, closing the distance to her and wrapping his arms around her.

"But I'm the first guy to knock up _you_. And just so you know it: Nope, I don't feel baby trapped. And yes, I love you."

Pepper smiled at his confession, leaning in to softly kiss him. "I love you, too…"

"And I just surprised you with my reaction, huh?"

"Um… yes…" But then, he was so unpredictable all the time, it was not happening the first time that he reacted in the completely opposite way to what she had expected.

He just smiled softly, kissing her again, before groaning.

"Okay, let's get me out of this suit before that thing that is squeezing me in the wrong place right now annihilates the chance for Stark junior to ever have siblings. Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S., you're going to be a big brother soon!" he addressed his AI, while maneuvering back to the bathtub with Pepper at his side. Giggling about the big brother comment, as J.A.R.V.I.S. was indeed able to perform more or less according to _that_ book, at least in this tower, he realized that J.A.R.V.I.S. took longer to answer than he expected.

"J?"

" _I am currently consulting a thesaurus for a more sophisticated answer than YAY!, Sir",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. announced, making the couple chuckle.

"What did the thesaurus say?" Tony laughed, eliciting another almost-sigh from his AI.

" _Whoopee, huzza, and yipyip. I prefer sticking to yay in the moment."_

"Aw, Peps, J.A.R.V.I.S. is looking forward to being a big brother. Wait until we break the news to DUM-E and U!"

She smiled, helping him sit down at the corner of the bathtub as the suit disintegrated from his lower half. It was somewhat sad that he was thinking of his bots first, not having another family anymore he could tell earth-shattering news like these.

"We can tell them tomorrow. Or do you think the three months rule also applies to artificial intelligences?"

Tony did not care, gathering the rest of his strength to get rid of his clothing and finally submerge his aching body in the warm water.

When he opened his eyes again he saw Pepper sitting on the floor right next to him, her head resting on her arms that she had placed on the rim of the bathtub, watching him.

"You almost died today", she whispered and he reached out to caress her cheek.

At least she would not have been alone, then.

"I'll make sure something like that will never happen again", he said, closing his eyes again, not wanting to see her skeptical expression, thinking _And how exactly are you going to do this?_


	2. Cold winds are rising

_**Chapter 2: Cold winds are rising**_

 _A wise man makes his own decisions; an ignorant man follows the public opinion. (Grantland Rice)_

* * *

Tony Stark was a dancer, his motions always gracefully fluid and purposeful, and his posture (most of the time) upright and somewhat aristocratic, no matter if he was walking around in a tux or jeans and a t-shirt. Heck, he was even swaying his hips when wearing a metal suit!

In the moment, he was lacking most of this grace, though, and grateful that he was able to place one foot in front of the other without yelling _Ow!_ at each and every movement.

Pepper had already left the bed when he woke up, however, that was nothing new, she always got out of bed at who-came-up-with-that-time in the morning, so he was not surprised finding her with the newspaper and a cup of coffee in the kitchen area, munching on something that looked like an energy bar.

The broken window had been replaced by a wooden board, and also the dent in his marble floor was covered. Trust Pepper to get stuff like that done before his brain was even booting.

"Shouldn't you be sick, or something?" he questioned, reaching for his fuel of life while ignoring the other two energy bars on the table. He had never done well with eating right after getting up, and he definitely would not start now on changing that. So he poured himself some coffee, and slowly sat down at the other side of the table with a groan.

That got him one elegant eyebrow raised as comment, and a soft smile as she put down her cup and the newspaper while getting up from her place and approaching him.

"I don't think morning sickness kicks in 7 days after conception", she said, her hands tangling in his hair, messing it as his arms closed around her, his head resting against her upper stomach as he hugged her close. "How did you sleep?"

Tony placed a kiss against the fabric of her business costume, knowing very well that the cell-heap that was going to be their child was situated lower, actually, but his strained back definitely would not take this bow today.

"Surprisingly well… I had a great distraction, however, from that portal into another dimension", he answered, directing his gaze up at her. The soft smile never left her face as he tugged onto her, making her sit down on his lap. Her hands never left his hair, caressing through it as she pecked his lips.

" _Sir, Captain Rogers and the Avengers are asking for you."_ J.A.R.V.I.S. announced. That the Captain had started asking for him already two hours earlier his creator did not need to know.

"I bet he's been bugging you for way longer, right, J? Thanks for deflecting them. Send them up, they might as well have breakfast here", Tony answered, his dark eyes never breaking contact to Peppers blue gaze.

" _As you wish, Sir."_

"And J, not a word about Cell-heap Stark. We'll stick to the three months rule, here", Tony continued, while Pepper swatted his arm. "Cell-heap? You are calling our son _Cell-heap?!"_

Tony shrugged. "Well, that's what he is in the moment. A cell-heap. And until we come up with a name, he's gonna be embryo Stark, fetus Stark, or bump Stark – Wait a minute, when did we decide it was a boy?"

"I don't think this is something we could _decide_ , Tony", Pepper laughed. "I just have a gut-feeling that it might be a boy. J.A.R.V.I.S.'s scanners are not _that good,_ by chance _?"_

" _I could tell you the number of Y chromosomes, if you would like me to";_ J.A.R.V.I.S. piped up, having Tony look up slightly exasperated.

"There's more than one?!"

" _No Sir, there is exactly one",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. answered smugly.

"Way to spoil the surprise, J!"

" _I am sorry, Sir. I assumed you wanted to know the gender."_

Tony smiled at that. Of course he wanted to know. Hell, he could brag about knowing the gender of his kid before its heart had started beating.

"It's okay, J, you know how impatient I am."

" _I indeed do, Sir. The Avengers are going to be here in 30 seconds, so I recommend you stop the talk about Baby-boy Stark if you want to keep it a secret."_

"Baby-boy Stark. That sounds nice", Pepper whispered, and Tony smiled.

"How would Mrs. Stark sound to you?" he whispered back, holding her in place when she tried to move away, scrutinizing him.

"Tony, you don't have to…"

"I'm not", he interrupted her, resting his forehead against hers.

"Say yes."

There was a tiny voice, telling her that she did not need him to marry her just because they were going to have a child. There was a bigger voice though telling this tiny voice to shut the fuck up, she loved this man, and was not marrying him because she was pregnant, but because he was the love of her life.

"Say yes", he repeated. He needed her. This was not about doing _the right thing_ like his father had back then with his Mom. She was his family, and it had taken him to lose almost everything, including his life to realize that he never wanted her gone. He needed to know that she and his baby were safe and cared for, just in case.

Mostly, he was looking forward to introducing her as Mrs. Stark, though, glancing at the shocked faces all around them, making them wonder about just how kickass the CEO of Stark Industries was to tame one Tony Stark.

"Yes", Pepper whispered, making him smile.

* * *

 _Someday, someone's going to look at you like you're the best thing in the world._

This was exactly the look Tony and Pepper shared, when Natasha Romanoff walked around the corner, the male Avengers only seconds behind.

They were smiling at each other, foreheads resting against each other. Clearing her throat, she wished them a "Good Morning", making his hand rush away from wherever it had been before to come resting on Pepper's thigh when the rest of the party had taken the corner. Clint smiled knowingly, Thor and Bruce both had a big grin on their faces, and Steve appeared slightly embarrassed at the intimacy Stark and his … girlfriend…(?) were displaying.

"Good morning, everybody. Help yourself with some coffee, and I guess J had the fridge stocked up…"

" _I did, Sir. I am afraid we do not have bacon, though";_ J.A.R.V.I.S. replied, making Tony frown.

"When did I ever want bacon for breakfast?"

" _You never want breakfast at all, Sir. You do have guests, though, and Miss Potts is having breakfast."_

"Miss Potts is a granivore for breakfast", Tony told his artificial butler, turning his attention to the woman on his lap once more. "You have to go to work today? Does my company even exist anymore? Stocks must have been falling like me yesterday…"

Pepper wrinkled her nose at that comparison. "Actually, stock exchange is stable. We have a board meeting this afternoon, though…", she replied as she scooted carefully off his lap, waiting for his wailing, trying to lament his way out of it. She would not let him, though. The man whose name was on each building of their company had risked his life yesterday. Of course there was a board meeting.

"Okay, I'll pick you up at noon for lunch and then we'll go there", he answered, making Pepper, and, curiously enough, Captain Rogers frown.

"Director Fury is coming here, he wants to see us. I guess we won't be done by noon with the debriefing and plans how to go on from here."

"What, it's not enough that I nuked the Chitauri, now he also wants to _talk_ them to death? What I have to tell him takes 10 minutes."

"Stark…"

"Don't Stark me. Time is money. J, set one of the conference rooms on the fourth floor and have a car ready for later. Are the roads free or is there still too many aliens lying around?"

" _Cleanup efforts have just begun; I suggest taking the helicopter to Stark Industries, Sir. Director Fury has just arrived and tries to gain entrance to the private elevator by overriding me again. Obviously he has never heard of a doorbell."_

"Okay, then ready the helicopter. And fry whatever Fury is using to hack you." Stifling a groan, Tony got up from his chair, starting to make his way towards the elevator.

"I guess that breakfast has been cancelled", he announced as he passed the Avengers, who were still looking at him with a frown.

"Stark, we just fought against an alien invasion and it has to be determined…", Rogers started to reason with him again, but Tony just waved him off.

"J.A.R.V.I.S. and I just stopped the Borg from invading, and the only thing that has to be determined now is what happens to Loki, and who the big boss behind all of that was. Pep, be a dear and prepare everything, we're going back to Malibu after the board meeting."

"Tony…?"

He just threw her a sincere look, making her nod.

Rogers sent him another look, repeating "Borg…?", at the same time, which got him some rolled eyes.

"Might also have been Klingons. On the other hand, the hive mind just yells _Borg_. You really wanna have me explain everything twice? Boy, and I thought Star Fleet was more efficient." By now he had completely lost Steve ( _Star Fleet?_ ), while Clint was grinning widely. Turning around and continuing his way towards the elevator he of course did not offer an explanation, making the other Avengers sigh and start following him.

"Hey, J! I just realized that we made a first contact without having warp drive. Is that cool, or is that cool?" he asked his AI, stretching out his right arm into the air, hand fisted.

Pepper snorted at that, and J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded only slightly annoyed when he said: _"Consider yourself fist-bumped, Sir."_

Tony just went on rambling about the fact why they did not have warp drive, and that he had to figure out if he couldn't speed up the entire thing to a bit earlier than 2063. But what about the Vulcans, then?

"Vulcans?"

Barton was just stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants, grinning widely at Natasha. "I think I might like that guy…"

* * *

Nicolas Fury was annoyed. He was used to being where he wanted to be, when he wanted to be there. The program he had used on the J.A.R.V.I.S. technology was an advanced version of what Phil Coulson had been using when he picked up Stark.

Little did he know that Pepper and J.A.R.V.I.S. had an agreement on letting Phil in when he was very persistent – and that Tony knew about that but humored them anyway. Since the first time Fury had let himself into the Malibu Mansion, after the incident with Obadiah Stane almost killing his creator, not only Tony had made sure that his security system was, well, secure. J.A.R.V.I.S. had learned very quickly how S.H.I.E.L.D. approached computational tasks, and developed a variety of strategies to fend them off, or mislead them into thinking he really was _just_ an electronic butler.

Agent Coulson never posed a threat, asking nicely before trying other measures. Fury never even thought about ringing a doorbell. Most times J.A.R.V.I.S. let him think that his technology was advanced enough to outrun whatever Tony Stark could come up with – even though most of the time it would not even take down whatever Tony had programmed after partying the entire night and then spending two days straight in the workshop without coffee.

This time, J.A.R.V.I.S. saved the video footage of Fury yelling at the device in his hands for five minutes straight, the agents around him obviously embarrassed by some of the content, before gently offering a very polite _"Welcome, Director Fury. Conference Room 2 has been set up for the debriefing. Please enter the elevator."_

So Fury grouched while his entourage tried to look like they did not belong to the cursing man in front of them.

He reached the conference room just at the time the Avengers made it around the corner, following Tony Stark who was strolling down the corridor, hands in the pockets of some loose joggers that most probably cost a fortune, but looked like he stole them from a homeless person, just as the black wife beater under which the blue shimmer of the arc reactor could be seen.

Fury rolled his eyes. All the other Avengers had cleaned up themselves, Rogers wore his uniform (no clue how he got that thing here), even Banner was representable, and Stark appeared at a debriefing as if he was going to the gym afterwards or just fell out of bed (which was actually true), bed-hair included.

"Hey there. You know, you didn't have to use the door. Next time just dock the helicarrier to the Penthouse platform… okay, maybe not right now, since the cloaking device is broken, but once it's invisible again, New York might not mind", Stark babbled as he pushed the door open and brushed past the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Steve Rogers briefly thought about how many times he had already rolled his eyes about the other man, and if it was possible that his eyes were popping out from that. Whenever that guy opened his mouth, something that made him want to smack him came out of it.

Tony just unceremoniously dumped himself on a chair, once more groaning inaudibly, and waited for the others to join him. He wanted to leave. The feeling of wanting to run away was nothing new for him, but this time he was mainly feeling like a kid at the last day of school with a teacher thinking the last lesson was the most important thing on earth.

To be honest, he did not care that much how they proceeded with Loki – as long as they locked him up somewhere safe, and/or got him a really good shrink. He was pretty sure that Dr. Selvig and Hawkeye were not the only ones possessed. He had other things on his mind, though – and they were far more important than whatever alien invasion they had just impeded. Last night had changed almost everything he valued – and it definitely had changed his priorities.

* * *

He did not remember going to bed, however, was grateful for Pepper's insistence on buying some mattress with adequate lumbar support and whatnot. When nature called in the middle of the night after just having saved the world, a device to help a sore man getting up also would have been helpful, though.

He groaned as he tried to push himself up and made a surprised sound when two slender arms closed around him, and held onto him quite forcefully.

A look at her face in the dim light of his reactor told him that she had not been sleeping at all until now.

"Peps…"

"Don't go… please…", she whispered hoarsely, her head coming to rest against his upper arm and he could feel the wetness of her cheeks against his skin. Why was she crying?

"Peps, I gotta pee, I'm just going to the bathroom", he said, cringing at his own wording… he really should try to be a little less vernacular. A kid sounded cute telling you exactly this, and you most probably were proud of your potty-trained spawn. On a grown man it sounded mostly vulgar, though.

Pepper made a silent and slightly embarrassed "Oh", before she let go off him to mind his business.

When he came back, wondering when he actually had ever had to put this much effort into getting _into_ bed (let's face it, getting out of bed most of the time is way harder), her back was resting against the headboard, and when he reached out for her, she was back against his side in no time.

"What's wrong, Pepper? Are you alright?"

Her head was buried against his collarbone when she whispered: "You almost died."

He bit his tongue, to keep from declaring that _almost_ was the most important word here.

"I know", he answered softly, kissing her hair. "I won't do it again."

"Tony…" How could he say that? Climbing into his armor put his life at risk each and every time. And now that he was a part of this superhero-boygroup it was just a matter of time…

"I'm gonna tell Fury that Iron Man won't be a part of the Avengers. He can ask Rhodey, after all he's a soldier, he knows how to cope with that stuff, I will gladly update War Machine and fund them, be a consultant. But no more flying nukes into wormholes where I cannot breathe. I wanna be there and watch my kid drive you and the world crazy."

Her arms around him twitched and he wished he had not said the not-being-able-to-breathe part. He definitely would not tell her that first he told J.A.R.V.I.S. to save some energy for his trip back, only to blow it to get the missile where he wanted to have it.

Then he realized that she was laughing.

"What makes you think our child will drive _me_ crazy?" Nothing could be worse than taking care of him. And this child would have half of her more reasonable, dependable genes.

He laughed, pulling her against him.

"Peps, I'm basically a five-year-old with a bank account. A pretty huge one. Me and that kid will have lots of fun. Though I guess I'll also have to drag out the responsible adult every now and then, huh?"

She nodded against his chest.

"So… you want to be around. We will do this. Together?"

Tony threw her a funny look. Of course he would be there and raise his child with her. Had there ever been any sign that he would not?

She had been there through enough _He's the father_ claims from various women he bedded to know that he wanted a test to confirm it was his (mainly, because he was a hundred percent sure it wasn't).

He never treated any of the women badly, he never threatened the mother into abortion (if she was still pregnant – most of them appeared two years later with a blond, blue-eyed kid and wondered that Tony was laughing his ass off). "If it's mine, I'll be around." She had heard him say that… They never were, and Pepper would have sued each and every woman for trying to rip him off. Tony most of the time just shrugged.

"Of course I will be around." His hand sneaked down, coming to rest right below her navel. "I may go slightly overprotective, and have J.A.R.V.I.S. monitor you every single second of the day from now on. Maybe I'll have him take a snapshot each day so we can show our kid how it grew up… I may be a little more responsible from now on, and I definitely need to cut down my drinking, and… wow, is your mind also overworking itself with what we have to do from now on?"

Pepper chuckled, her head growing heavier against his shoulder.

"Yes. Though my thoughts are a bit more selfish…" He was talking about keeping her save, and what was good for the baby, and her major thought was…"

"Oh, you're thinking about what's happening to Stark Industries once you're about to pop?"

"Well… I happen to like my job."

Tony just shrugged.

"I used to be CEO of that company; I can take over once you're on maternity leave. And I will gladly hand back the scepter to you once you're ready to. I'm not gonna turn you into a little housewife…" The word scepter reared some memories he'd rather not visit now…

"And who is going to take care of…" she started, feeling slightly relieved that he appeared to have no problems with her career ambitions whilst being a mother. Tony interrupted her.

"I'm working from home most of the time, anyway. I'll just put up a baby bed down in the workshop… and will try not to blow up most of the stuff I'm working on."

"You would…?" Okay, this man became more astonishing every minute. She had expected the suggestion of hiring a squadron of nannies.

Tony just leaned back, keeping his arms around Pepper, and dragging her with him.

"I grew up with a squad of nannies, most of them not staying longer than a few months, because my father was chasing every skirt, and Mom was firing them faster than they could fall for him. Later I was shipped off to boarding schools, and by the time I entered the MIT I had given up on wanting to spend time with my parents."

Kissing her temple, he chuckled.

"I will annoy the hell out of that kid with all the things I've got to show and tell. _We_ will raise our child and not a bunch of foreign people. You know, I once called our butler Jarvis Dad and then got yelled at by Howard for one hour straight? I was three years old, and the other man was always around. I thought Mr. Stark's first name was Honey, because that was what Mom always called him." Both of them laughed, even though it was actually quite sad.

"You will be a stay-home-Dad, while I'm bringing home the money?"

"While you bring home the money – though, if it's a girl you'll have to do all the girl-talk stuff… and you'll have to show them how to ride a bike, because I never learned that…"

"Even if it's a boy I'll give him the girl-talk stuff, because his Daddy has a disputable reputation. And I can show you how to ride a bike", Pepper laughed, turning in his embrace as she scooted up to kiss him.

"You'll make a great Dad", she whispered between kisses, smiling as his arms went around her more forcefully, his kisses turning more demanding.

"And you will make an awesome Mom. You think Junior would mind if we…?" he once more suggestively wriggled his eyebrows.

"As long as I don't have to do all of the work…", Pepper smiled, starting to tug at his shirt.

* * *

"Stark!?"

Tony lifted his head, snapping back to reality after his musings about last night. Hoping that they were not already one hour into the meeting and he had dulled out everything that had been said to him, he offered a confused "Huh?"

Romanoff next to him sighed. How come it was so easy to switch back to PA tasks that she had done back then, like, taking care he did not dream away before a meeting even had begun?

"How about you don't dull us out before anyone has even said something yet?" she hissed, as he sat up a bit more straight in his chair.

"How about we get started, then? I've got a board meeting to attend, donations to New York have to be made, I have a wedding to plan, and one of my suit's malfunctioning, get going people, I don't have all day!" the genius exclaimed, curious to figure out how many rolled eyes this would get him. The number was uneven, since Fury only had one eye, but still… one of the women in black following Fury was the only one stoically looking at a spot on the wall behind him… Huh, maybe she might want to change professions…

"Stark, you won't go anywhere today. As an Avenger…"

Tony lifted his right forefinger, interrupting and correcting the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"As a consultant. I never signed anything that says I'm an Avenger… Actually, I also never signed anything that makes me a consultant, but I'll have my lawyers work something out. Anyhow, Iron Man's not available for the job either, since, duh, that guy's me. Ask War Machine if you need air support, maybe _you_ can persuade Rhodey to let me update the suit. So, can we talk now about what power possessed Legolas, Dr. Selvig and Reindeer games, and what you want to do about that, or can I go?"

Big brown eyes looked at Fury from a head that was slightly tipped to the side, and the director was at loss for words for a second. This was way too much information for the last few seconds the man had been talking.

"Reindeer games?" Thor's huge body was taking up the entire seat, and his booming voice made all heads turn towards him. Tony smirked, wondering if the chair would come up with him if the Demigod would stand.

"Bambi. Rudolf, Dasher. Blitzen, I can come up with more names if you want me to, Point Break. That handsome guy in the green armor with the golden horns on a golden helmet? Left a dent in my Penthouse floor? Blue eyes that turned green after the Hulk's oh so gentle 're-calibration'? Come on, people, I cannot be the only one who realized that."

Obviously, the only thing that made it to their minds from his counting up Loki's assets was handsome, because that was what was echoing from both the Captain's and Black Widow's mouths, as all of them stared at the engineer.

"You think that… whatever took hold of the archer's mind also was controlling my brother?" Thor finally said. Clint was awkwardly quiet by that time. Seconds ago all he wanted to do was putting an arrow in that smug bastard's face… Now, he started to dig out what he remembered from that time… _Tell me what you need…_ Shouldn't you be afraid of the entity holding your mind? Shouldn't you not feel comfortable around him? Yeah, he had been pissed when he woke, but…

"I think that if your brother wanted to take over earth, he would take a different path rather than involving brainless aliens that keel over when you wipe out the mothership. I think, he would be super villain and intelligent enough to NOT build a self-destruct button into the machine that's supposed to help him take over the planet, or let the only thing that can push said self-destruct button out of his sight… right next to the self-destruct button. Without any guards around it." Gosh, hopefully he'd said self-destruct button often enough for all of them to understand what he wanted to say.

Leaning back in his chair Tony observed how the wheels in the others' brains started turning. Crossing his arms, he said:" I think he did everything he could while under the influence of whatever was possessing people and turning eyes into an adorable blue, to save this planet. And if you had invited him here, he could give us an insight in what exactly you will have to face once the guy that makes these baby blues decides that he's not done yet with conquering Earth."

The silence that followed his announcement was soon overridden by all the people in the room talking over each other. Only the Demigod was awkwardly quiet. Loki always was operating on more than one layer. Thor knew that, yet, he rarely acknowledged it because he rarely was making any plan at all. Loki always had had a plan A, B and C. And a copy of plan A.

There were no Chitauri attacking the woman who finally managed to close the portal because Loki had steered them away to attack the other Avengers. Yes, he had stabbed him, but it was only a laceration that was already healing.

His fist crashed down on the table, making more than one person in the room jump as the Thunderer jumped up (unfortunately, without the chair sticking to his butt), announcing loudly "I want to talk to my brother!"

"Ask him why he had to throw me out of the window. That was kind of scary, you know, since I did not know whether J.A.R.V.I.S. had the suit ready", Tony said, also getting up from his chair. "I guess I should leave now, the rest of this conversation is very likely super-secret, right?" J.A.R.V.I.S. was online in this room. He'd have the information anyway.

Only now it seemed to dawn to Fury that Stark had started this meeting with dropping another bomb. Since Thor already had used the fist-cracks-table approach, he decided to keep his voice threateningly low, saying: "You're not going anywhere, Stark."

Taking a deep breath, Tony held the other man's gaze, which was slightly disturbing, because focusing on only one eye made him also feel lopsided. "Last time I looked this was a free country. I don't have to be a part of your super-secret boyband if I don't want to. And believe me, I. Do. Not. Want to."

"You're a coward, Stark!" Captain America now exclaimed.

Tony sighed. "No. I'm rational."

"One near-death experience and you decide to run!" Oh, why could this man not be a bit more like his father? The super-soldier was taken aback, when the inventor continued looking at him softly, pushing his hands into the pockets of his joggers.

"I died for the first time when I OD-ed with 16. No, seriously, I was dead for two minutes, and Daddy-dearest was so pissed that I didn't finish the job, rather than being pissed because I was doing drugs, or wanting to know why I was doing drugs. I died for the second time when one of my own missiles exploded right next to me and they had to carve a hole in my chest in a cave in Afghanistan. I died a third time when they decided waterboarding a man who was attached to a car battery was a good idea. I almost died when my business partner thought that after setting up that trap in Afghanistan that failed to kill me, it was a really great idea to rip my heart out of my chest. Literally. I almost died because the device keeping me alive was poisoning me. As you said, I am only a big guy in a suit. Actually, I'm a big guy with a tendency for self-destruction and a heart condition in a suit. But as usual, what I am willing to give is not good enough. I said I'd be a consultant, update your armory, hell, I'll finance the entire thing. I offered to update War Machine, a suit that it steered by a guy who actually knows how to follow orders. But nooo, Tony Stark is just too selfish to go the extra mile and sacrifice himself. You know what? Fuck yourself! I'm outta here!"

What had started as a calm narration soon had Tony yelling at the super-soldier. His anger overriding his sore muscles, he strode out of the room with cat-like agility, smashing the door shut right behind him.

"I… I did not know he had a heart condition…" Steve stammered when all other people in the room where looking at him with stern faces.

"The Man of Iron rescued your city by taking this 'nuke' into the portal, offering his own life. It is his own decision if he wants to be a warrior or not. Considering his illness of which I had no knowledge, I deem his deeds, all of which he did yesterday, be it saving your flying ship, fighting at our side, or flying into the portal very selfless, not cowardly." Thor was still upright, his head spinning from thoughts entering his mind, contemplating everything the Man of Iron had just said. It made sense. Loki never had been evil per se. Yes, there were jealousy issues, yes, he had always been the odd man out, because, well, to the Æsir he was odd, preferring using magic over brute force. Not that he was not a skilled fighter; a lesser man would never have gotten close enough to stab him…

Though, up to now, his behind the back of others' methods had mostly worked to rescue his impulsive brother, or save Asgard from a king who was not ready to be one. So far, he attempted to wipe out enemies of Asgard, not innocent people. What force had made him do this? What had falling into the Void done to him?

"I want to talk to my brother", he repeated, receiving a glare from Fury.

"Oh, he will face justice. We will have to figure out what happens to the Tesseract now."

Thor gritted his teeth. That was all they were thinking about? The cube?

* * *

Pepper jumped when a door was smashed shut, finding out that her fiancée (oh, that sounded really nice…) had just entered the Penthouse while mumbling under his breath, and disappeared in the walk in closet. Smashing the door shut. Taking a glance at her watch she figured that he was only gone for 20 minutes, so either the meeting had been a big success, or, considering his reaction, it had been a big failure.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., what happened?"

Yes, she was not supposed to know anything about the super-secret Avengers initiative, or S.H.I.E.L.D., or what had happened yesterday (well, other than aliens trying to conquer Manhattan – that had made it to the media, somehow, duh). But she would not complain about any information Tony was offering voluntarily. She did know about the Tesseract, and Loki, though, because, seriously, that guy had left a dent in her floor and holes in most glass surfaces of the penthouse and the balcony outside.

" _Sir declared that Iron Man was not a part of the Avengers and then wanted to discuss the fact that Mr. Laufeyson was also mind-controlled and had Dr. Selvig build in the mechanism to shut down the portal, thus, effectively, saving Earth. S.H.I.E.L.D. is completely dismissing this fact and rather interested in the Tesseract, and Mr. Rogers called Sir a coward."_

"They did not even bring Loki to interrogate him?" Seriously? Gritting her teeth she set down her newspaper. So much for having a nice and slow morning. Lifting herself up from her place at the table she made her way towards the bedroom. S.H.I.E.L.D. obviously was taking wrong turns here, deeming the cube more interesting than whatever information the Demigod would have to offer. Her Arc-Reactor had kick started that thing, she was pretty sure Tony was able to build whatever power source they needed. Why was nobody ever interested in information?

Reaching the walk-in closet she slowly opened the door, finding Tony digging through his dress shirts. Leaning against the door frame she crossed her arms, leaning her head against the dark wood.

"Are you ok?"

Tony threw her a look, his fist curling around the fabric of one shirt. "Why is nothing I ever do good enough? I build a smart weapon and all they ask is _why didn't you make it bigger?_ I bed one of the Victoria's secret models and they ask _why didn't he go for the entire calendar?_ I offer to consult S.H.I.E.L.D., equip their people, even suggest a replacement for Iron Man, and all they say is _Why don't you put yourself in the line of fire?"_

Pepper watched him for a while and then crossed the distance to him. His head turned to rest against the crook of her neck the second her arms went around him, his hands wandering up to her shoulder blades, holding her close, taking in her scent, God, she always smelled so good.

"Aren't you going to say anything to comfort me?" he asked after a while.

"I'm still thinking about what to say that doesn't start with _They are idiots._ " Pepper answered, her fingers tangling in Tony's hair, massaging his scalp.

"I called off the board meeting, postponed it to the day after tomorrow. I'd like to get the repairs on Stark tower going before we go back to Malibu…", she continued silently, having him lift his head.

" _You_ called off a board meeting?"

"Yes, I called off a board meeting. I told them that you are still kicking, and stocks will only be climbing after Iron Man saved the world. J.A.R.V.I.S. will take care that our company won't be ruined in the next few days. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Let's invite Captain America over and watch _I love you, Phillip Morris_ …"

Tony burst with laughter at the thought of the Captain seeing Jim Carrey topping another man which made Pepper smile in turn.

"See, that's my Tony. They are not important. Nobody is important. Just you, and me, and J.A.R.V.I.S. and the bots…"

"And Cell-heap."

Rolling her eyes, Pepper snorted. "And Cell-heap. We really need to come up with a better name."

Burying his nose against her skin again, Tony placed a kiss against her neck. "We will. But first I need to talk to Loki. I don't think this is over yet."

"Don't you think S.H.I.E.L.D. should handle that?"

"I think S.H.I.E.L.D. is just after the Tesseract, and now that they have it back they don't care much about Loki's motives to steal it."

"So, it's Tony Stark to the rescue again, huh?" she asked softly.

"I guess", Tony answered.


	3. Earth sleeps, soundly

_**Chapter 3: Earth sleeps, soundly**_

 _When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier. (Roy E. Disney)_

* * *

Thor was a warrior. And he knew that he lacked skills in most other daily life compartments, his, even though rather brief, exile on Earth had shown him just this. Marching forward and throwing his hammer was not always the best method to clear out problems.

So, in the end, Tony and Pepper ended up talking to both Thor and Loki. The Thunderer had sat through the meeting, not saying another word. He was sure about one fact: The Tesseract should not stay in the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D. However, he had never been the man to make plans – that was Loki's resort, and his brother was locked up in one of the rooms of this huge tower, handcuffed and gagged.

The Man of Iron was the only one trying to get the larger picture, and for once he decided that his father's wish to bring Loki back as soon as possible maybe would result in so many problems, that they needed a plan to show the All-father that there was a bigger threat. And that Loki needed help. So it was only logical to approach the Man of Iron, thus he called out to the ethereal voice once he was back in the guest suite that had been offered to him so generously. J.A.R.V.I.S. told him to stand by, and directed him to the private elevator after a while.

* * *

Loki sat on a cot in a windowless room, staring into the dark. His head was pounding, the gag was hurting, and the shackles also did not help to make him comfortable in any way. It would have been easy to get rid of them; they were Midgardian and had some chink in the lock. The muzzle Thor had brought from Asgard would not come off by his hands, though, and the Thunderer knew what it was doing on the mage, thus, had not even bothered bringing anything else to confine him.

Weirdly enough, though, he did not really contemplate fleeing. He was beat, exhausted, and he just wanted this to be over…

He jumped when a soft voice addressed him and the lights were turned on.

" _Mr. Laufeyson. Mr. Stark would like to talk to you."_

Shielding his eyes from the blinding light, he looked around in the room. Wonderful. Now he was not only an outlaw who most probably would be banished, or rot in a Midgardian or Asgardian prison (if Odin didn't decide he'd had enough and just chopped his head off to finally live in peace), no, he was also going crazy and hearing voices. And of course, these voices had to remind him of his doomed ancestry, as well.

" _I am sorry; the lights in this room were not designed to be dimmed. You should adjust soon. Please get up, now. Your guards are a bit careless in the moment, I will open the door."_

Hesitantly, the Demigod stood. He could not answer, or ask what was going on, so he directed his gaze up again, focusing on a tiny camera.

" _Turn left and head to the end of the hallway, then turn right."_

With a silent _click_ the door in front of him opened, and Loki pushed it further with his shoulder, taking a peek outside.

" _Turn left. Hurry up!"_ The voice became more urgent, so he left the room, silently closing the door behind him, and rushed down the corridor as fast as he could, almost skidding to a halt when the voice above him hissed _"Stop!"_

Another hissed order told him to turn right, just at the time when another door opened, so he slid in just in time to hear someone take the corner, talking to someone else.

"The guy's not moved since we locked him up there. Hitching that J.A.R.V.I.S. thing is sooo easy, seriously. We can watch him from wherever we want…"

Loki directed his gaze once more to the ceiling.

" _Security footage is in a loop, they will just continue seeing you sitting on the cot",_ the voice silently announced. The footsteps slowly faded down the hallway, and once they were completely gone, Loki continued his way down the hallway, turning right at the end of the corridor. He made it to the elevator without any further interruptions.

The ride took longer than he thought, most probably taking him all the way up to the Penthouse. He was dreading meeting this Mr. Stark. Something had made him resistant to the scepter's magic, which was freaking him out. That man had been ridiculing him, had confronted him without the safety of his suit. Had prophesied his failure…

 _His name was Phil…_ These words had been echoing in his head since the green monster had smashed him into the floor, they were haunting him. When the elevator slowed down, he took a deep breath, directing his gaze to the floor. Of course he had failed. He always was a failure…

" _Sir, Mr. Laufeyson has…"_

"Oh my God, what have they done with him?!" a female voice exclaimed, interrupting the voice from the ceiling and making the Demigod look up.

Thor was there. Of course Thor was there. Yet, his brother was looking quite demure, sitting across of the brunette man who was lifting his head just in time to see a tall redhead rush to the elevator and grab his upper arm to pull him out of the cabin. Loki was so dumbfolded that he just followed.

"Tony! They did not even treat his injuries. Or give him clothes. Or let him take a shower", she finished, wrinkling her nose.

Thor had gotten up, not quite sure how Loki would react to Lady Pepper's assault. Indeed, Loki was still wearing his armor, torn and shredded and bloodied, the skin of his forehead and at the bridge of his nose cracked open, his hair greasy.

By the time Tony had gotten up from the couch, Pepper had dragged the Demigod there and made him sit down.

The engineer just threw Thor a look. "They gagged him?"

The Demigod shrugged. "Keeps him from using his magic. Father once had me sew his mouth shut, so I think this is more comfortable." Tony shot Thor an incredulous glance.

"Wow… that's brotherly love…" The words were out before he could bite his lips, and also Pepper stared at the Thunderer.

"Indeed, it is", Thor smiled, sending Loki a look.

"I think we need to order _Sarcasm!_ signs for Sheldon, here", Tony growled, his gaze wandering back to the dark-haired God.

Loki by now had directed his gaze to the floor again. Oh, this was so humiliating. They would laugh at him. They always did. He did not anticipate the "Wait a sec", that the engineer exclaimed now before hastily disappearing in the elevator.

Thor looked as if he was seriously contemplating one of his bone-crushing hugs, while the redhead kept on ranting.

"Also prisoners have rights, including being unharmed, and treated well and… did they even go into his cell since he's been here… where was he locked up, anyway…?"

" _Mr. Laufeyson was locked into one of the printer rooms on the fourth floor…"_

"Those rooms don't even have windows!"

Both Thor and Loki frowned at that exclamation. What sense would a prison cell with a window make? The Thunderer sat down again, listening to the ethereal voice as it continued.

"… _S.H.I.E.L.D. thinks they have hitched on my surveillance system inside the tower, and only have been checking video footage. No one has entered the room since Mr. Laufeyson has been locked up."_

"Great, so they did not even bring you food or water?" By now the woman was kneeling next to him on the couch, soft hands brushing away his hair to reach the fastening of the muzzle. If he had been able to, he would have laughed. Puny mortal, why should the muzzle come off at her fingers?

" _I do not think that either S.H.I.E.L.D. or Asgard signed the Geneva Convention, Miss Potts."_

"That is so not helping in the moment, J.A.R.V.I.S.!" Her fingers kept working on the fastening, careful to not pull at his hair. Loki could feel the gag loosen and was surprised, yet, he dared not moving a muscle, not quite sure how his brother or the engineer would react if he posed any kind of threat.

When she finally had the gagging device opened, it landed on the floor the second it came off. However, before Loki could say anything, a slender hand grabbed his chin, turning his face towards the redhead, who was now inspecting his injuries.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., do a full body scan, Tony is always concussed when he has bruises on his forehead. I don't think that the nose is broken. Are you hungry? Thirsty? I think we should get you cleaned up before I can treat your wounds…"

"Good Lord, Pepper, let the man breathe. J, there anything in my wardrobe that would fit Tall, Dark, and Handsome?" Stark had reappeared and was just stepping out of the elevator carrying a toolbox. The redhead was scooting off the couch now, her touches leaving warm spots on the Demigod's skin. How long was it that anyone had touched him and not wanted to bodily harm him?

" _Your clothes would be too tight for Mr. Laufeyson, Sir. I took the liberty to re-route some of Mr. Rogers' clothing up to the Penthouse."_

Before the Demigod could even shake off the overwhelming thoughts entering his mind, the smaller man had sat down on the table in front of him, grabbing one of his arms, a thumb quickly running over the abused skin there, before turning his wrist to take a closer look at the shackles.

"Oh God, I hope it's not those brown pants he pulls up to under his armpits and this ridiculous checked pattern shirt he wore on the helicarrier… J, is that our old shackles with the chink no one's actually supposed to know about, or the new ones?"

" _Would blue jeans and a plain white shirt be more of your liking, Sir? My scans say that these shackles are of the old design."_

Loki watched as the steep furrow of concentration between the mortal's eyebrows disappeared and a smirk played around his mouth, one hand letting go of his arm to dig around in the toolbox, coming up with a long screwdriver.

"Great. I love the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. is too cheap to update their stuff."

Thor jumped up only milliseconds after Tony had lifted his arm, the screwdriver like a dagger in his hand. Loki was still trying to decide whether he should pull away or just figure out what damage this tool could do to his body, when metal crashed on metal, and the handcuff sprang open.

"Hehe, just don't let anyone know about that trick… Peps is right, by the way, you could use a shower", Tony addressed Loki then, warm brown eyes locking onto the Demigod's gaze, while he was gently pulling off the other handcuff.

Thor was just staring at his brother and the engineer. Only one day ago, they had tried to kill each other. And now he could see the Man of Iron run his thumb over reddened skin around his brother's wrists.

"What do you want?" Loki fought the urge to cough, his voice was rough. It was not easy to hold the other man's gaze. He was free now, he could shift, he could run, and he could just disappear.

"Answers", Thor said. "But I agree with friend Stark that you should get cleaned up first." When Loki directed his gaze at the blonde God, Thor smirked. "You stink, brother."

* * *

The warm water felt good, and the Demigod almost sighed with relief when he felt the sweat and blood from the day before being washed away, his hair untangling under the heavenly rain.

The redhead… Lady Pepper… _Oh, for heaven's sake, just call me Pepper, Thor!_ had directed him to the bathroom while bantering with the engineer and the voice from the ceiling at the same time what they would order for Dinner.

"I'm in the mood for Sushi", she had declared.

" _Miss Potts, Sushi is not recommended while…"_

Throwing Stark an exasperated look, she exclaimed:" Tony, did you already put J.A.R.V.I.S. on over-protective mode?"

The engineer just lifted his hands. "Nope, I guess he's doing that on his own. I'm more in the mood for Pizza, though."

"Then order Pizza for you, and Sushi for me."

" _As I already said…"_

"Bap bap bap, J, you'll lose that one. I love you, buddy, but that woman is having sex with me, and if she wants raw fish then she gets raw fish for Dinner."

At that Thor and Loki shared an Eew-look.

" _I merely wanted to state that many of the Japanese restaurants might still not have electricity for proper cooling of the fish, if anyone would let me finish my sentence, and that Tuna is prone to be…"_

With a heavy sigh Pepper hugged the clean clothes she had just picked up for Loki to her chest.

"Fine. Pizza it is, then. Spinach, sour cream, and pineapple."

The two Demigods watched how Stark's expression turned to Eew now, once more lifting his hands in surrender, though, when Pepper threw him a sharp look.

"Pineapple it is. I guess it's never too early for food cravings, huh? J, you heard the lady. For me just order the usual. What do you guys want?" he addressed the Demigods. Thor was apparently familiar with the concept of Pizza and just said he wanted lots of it, no matter what was on top.

Three eye pairs were directed at the other Demigod, who looked a bit lost. He had no clue what this Pizza stuff was. Or when… Lady Pepper chuckled.

"Oh, he looks like you, Tony, when you are trying to remember when was the last time you have been eating…"

After a quick side glance, Loki looked at the engineer who was pouting by now. "When will you learn that eating and sleeping are overrated…?"

"When you stop keeling over after 4 days without. I'm not supposed to carry heavy things anymore, right? From now on I'll have DUM-E drag you into bed and force-feed you. Anyway, Pizza is some kind of round flat dough-cake with tomato sauce and cheese on top, and then you can add lots of things before they bake it, like salami, or meat, or vegetables, or…" she addressed the God again, letting her fiancée sulk.

"I don't eat meat…", he said, his voice still rough. Pepper nodded.

"Vegetarian then, J.A.R.V.I.S.. Half the amount of what Thor wants?" she asked Loki, and he couldn't help the tiny smile that appeared on his face.

"Okay. You boys can set the table, while I'm showing our guest the bathroom", she announced, ignoring the offended huff behind her, as she dragged the tall Demigod behind her.

"You are really eating _raw_ fish?" Well, on Asgard it was even frowned upon eating the cooked version, but here maybe it was a stupid question, yet somehow he felt like he should say something while Pepper pushed him into the bathroom.

She threw him a patient look. "Everybody who has never tried Sushi is going _Eew, raw fish_ instantly. No, it's not a weird food craving, actually, it tastes really good, and once our city is back to normal, you should try some."

At that, Loki directed his gaze to the floor again, flinching when her small hand came to rest on his forearm. "Don't worry too much about what has happened. The Hulk caused similar damage to another part of this city not so long ago, and Tony leveled part of Queens when the Stark Expo went bonkers…"

"Did he also kill innocent people?" Straightening his body, the Demigod looked at his image in the mirror. He'd always tried to be neat, and clean, he hated the dirt from the battlefield, and _now look at you…_

"Tony was big in Weapon Manufacturing before...", she trailed off, hurt darkening her delicate features briefly, and not for the first time Loki started wondering about the other man who was resistant to the scepter's magic.

"Before he became Iron Man. He killed thousands of innocent people by extension, because it were the weapons Stark Industries produced that were used against them. It was tearing him apart when he found out; he is still hunting down every single bullet SI ever produced."

Loki threw her a sincere look. "Why are you telling me this? Why are you helping me? Why is he helping me? I threw him out of the window sans his suit." And he had seen the panic in his eyes, one tiny part of him wanting to stop. But ever since… he was controlled he was having problems with being impulsive instead of calmly following his plans.

Pepper puffed her cheeks in anger at his comment. "He did not tell me about that. I'm pretty sure he was provoking you, though, not even really thinking about the fact that he was not wearing a suit."

 _J.A.R.V.I.S., any time now!_ Oh, he had known that he was unprotected…

Pepper patted his arm again. "Tony's not resentful. We need your help, though. Everyone wants this stupid blue cube, and someone obviously wants it bad enough to start a war. And that coward has been using you instead of coming here by himself… I want this thing as far away as possible from my planet."

Nimble fingers started working on the fastening of his armor before he could even say a thing, and he winced when the shoulder piece came off. When she started on the tunic beneath it he found out that the dull pain in his back obviously resulted from an injured shoulder blade that made it almost impossible to lift his arm.

" _Body scan is complete. Mr. Laufeyson has two broken ribs, a fractured shoulder blade on the right side, and ruptured muscle fibers in his upper arms and left leg. The bruises in his face are only superficial, no concussion. According to the healing of the bones I could record in the meantime Mr. Laufeyson should be fine in about a week",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. announced, making the Demigod jump slightly at the disembodied voice speaking up with no warning.

"Who is this creature?" he asked, wincing at Pepper's attempts to take off the tunic without lifting his arm. Why did it always have to call him Laufeyson?

"Oh… I am so used to J.A.R.V.I.S. by now that I keep forgetting that it's weird for most other people. J.A.R.V.I.S., why don't you introduce yourself? How fond are you of this tunic, Loki, because I think I have to cut it off, all this leather doesn't stretch… and don't give me this shy look, Mister, I was working for Tony for only two days when I first stumbled over him, drunk and stark naked, declaring loudly that I had to kick Miss September and Miss January out of his bedroom, because his hand was doing a better job. You've got nothing I haven't seen before."

A soft smile played around her lips. She had been mortified back then, using her taking out the trash line on both women for the first time when they got bitchy…

Loki blushed at the same time. Humans obviously were incredibly blunt. Would she still say that if he turned that blue monster…?

"I… uh, I think cutting it off would be the easiest. J.A.R.V.I.S.?" he changed the subject, while Pepper had produced some scissors from only the Norns knew where. Little did he know that this was quite a regular exercise for the petite redhead in front of him, having to cut her boyfriend out of his undergarments more than once after a mission.

" _I am J.A.R.V.I.S., acronym for Just a rather very intelligent system. I am one of Mr. Stark's creations, basically, I'm a computer program, an electronic servant,"_ J.A.R.V.I.S. said, not wanting to offer any more details to this man. Apparently, Miss Potts had grown fond of him instantly, and also his creator appeared convinced that he was not a threat in the moment. J.A.R.V.I.S. himself was not quite so sure, yet, he was browsing terabytes of information about Norse mythology while keeping as many cameras and sensors as possible on the God of Mischief.

"Oh, he's always so shy. Maybe you could give a little warning tone, though, before you speak, to not startle our guests all the time?"

A soft beeping sound was heard now, before the voice was heard again. " _I will do so, Miss Potts."_

* * *

Turning the water off, Loki got out of the shower, searching for something to dry himself off.

" _Towels are to your right, Mr. Laufeyson._ "

Despite the soft beeping, Loki still jumped.

"Have you been watching me the entire time?" he questioned, grabbing one of the towels. Pepper had left once she had him out of his tunic. His dirty clothes had disappeared.

" _You tried to kill my creator yesterday. Of course I am watching you."_ Hostile. This was the only word that would describe the AI's tone now.

"Oh, and what would you do if I tried again, disembodied voice? Talk me to death?" Loki almost chuckled. A computer program… nothing special, just technology…

A mechanical sound in the ceiling made Loki look up. White panels where shifting away, setting free rather gigantic weaponry that was directly pointing at him (and yeah, Tony Stark had gigantic weaponry even in his bathroom. After all, you never knew.). And they did look powerful enough to leave more than just a scratch also in a God.

" _I do have my ways, Mr. Laufeyson. You would not even make it close to Mr. Stark or Miss Potts before my lasers dice you. And believe me, I will not hesitate to defend my family",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. answered with a threateningly low voice.

Loki swallowed hard as a red light point appeared on his bare, bruised chest, slowly wandering up to his forehead.

"Then I guess both of us should be glad that I do not have any intention to harm anyone", the Demigod silently offered, not daring to move as the light point did not move for another five seconds.

Then J.A.R.V.I.S. packed away the big guns.

" _I guess we should, shouldn't we?"_

Exhaling a breath he was not aware he had been holding, Loki continued drying himself off and set onto the task to get himself into the unfamiliar Midgardian clothes.

" _Put your injured arm into the shirt first, it should stretch enough for being put on properly then without harming your shoulder blade any more"_ , J.A.R.V.I.S. said, this time foregoing the beeping noise.

Hesitating briefly, Loki followed the suggestion. His mind was spinning, he would have to tell them about Thanos, but, how much should he reveal? He was still trying to figure out why the Man of Iron and especially Lady Pepper were so nice to him… And how did you calculate an ethereal voice that was threatening to cut you into slices if you just moved the wrong way and at the same time took care of your wellbeing into any equation?

* * *

When Loki walked out of the bathroom, Tony and Thor were chatting easily, the smaller man laughing about his _Shakespeare in the Park_ comment that Thor still did not quite get. Pepper was sitting right next to Stark, her head resting on his shoulder with him ever so slightly stroking the hair on her neck beneath her ear.

He only realized now that Thor was clothed in a similar fashion that he himself was by now, a simple black shirt outlining the bulky muscles of his upper body, and these blue jeans with these incredibly handy zippers instead of leather bands and fastenings.

When they finally saw the other Demigod coming down the stairs, his arm on the side of his fractured shoulder blade wrapped around his belly to keep it as still as possible, Loki started feeling self-conscious all over again.

The beeping noise appeared again, before J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke up.

" _Sir, the food has arrived. Shall I bring it up?"_

Tony rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm not going down to fetch it, so, yeah. What's with the beeping, J? You malfunctioning?"

" _No, Sir, Miss Potts suggested a silent acoustic warning before I address people who are not used to my presence to reduce my startling them. If you would please come to the platform, your Pizza is there."_

Tony frowned at that announcement. Why would his Pizza arrive at the platform? Shifting slightly and pulling Pepper up with him, he turned to the windows that were not covered by a big wooden plate to keep the wind outside just in time to see the MARK VII suit land there.

"Man of Iron, how is your suit flying without you?" Thor exclaimed, while Loki chose to just sit down and narrow his eyes at the metal armor.

"Oh… I forgot… the mayor called for help with the cleanup efforts, and nagged J.A.R.V.I.S. long enough to nag me so I told him to knock himself out if he wanted to help; I'm so not dragging dead Borg around town. How's my suit, J?" Stark said, getting up from the couch to march over to the entrance.

The suit handed over the bags with their food, the mask turning slightly having the glowing blue eyes pointed directly at Loki.

 _I do have my ways_ echoed in Loki's head, and the Demigod slid back on his seat, quickly looking away. For being _only_ a computer program J.A.R.V.I.S. was surely pretty intimidating.

The mask turned back to Stark. _"The Arc reactor is at 47 percent, I recommend recharging. The repair of MARK VI is almost finished. The Chitauri corpses have been removed in a radius of 1 mile around the tower, the… whale thingies… may take a bit longer."_

Tony smiled at J.A.R.V.I.S.'s using his term for the, well, whale thingies, and patted the suit's shoulder.

"Great. Take the suit down to the workshop and get U to wash it, there's Borg-goo on it."

Tony turned around at the same time as the suit which was marching back on the platform where it was being disassembled.

"And J…"

" _Yes, Sir?"_

"You did really good out there. Daddy's proud of you!"

Of course it had made it to the media that Iron Man was helping during the cleanup efforts, while Fury and his Muppet show of super heroes were locked up in a room, discussing what should be done with the Tesseract. Jarvis was good at multitasking, but even for him it was quite some effort to keep an eye on Loki and the Avengers while acting as a live model decoy in a metal suit for Tony, dragging around dead alien bodies, hacking S.H.I.E.L.D., learning about Norse mythology, repairing a high-tech suit, leading a multinational company, and pose as Tony's secretary and butler.

Loki threw Stark a look. Why would someone tell a mere computer program…?

The warmth in J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice startled him when he answered.

" _Thank you, Sir."_


	4. Covered in snow

_**Chapter 4: Covered in Snow**_

 _Patience is not simply the ability to wait._ (Joyce Meyer)

* * *

Loki was… at a loss, somehow. He still could not really integrate what was happening here. One day ago, he had almost killed the Man of Iron, who now turned out to be a very likeable person. He had almost murdered the… spouse? of this welcoming and gentle woman, and he felt horrible for it. On the other hand, he could not help but feeling suspicious. What, if being nice to him was just an act for… yes, for what? What reason could they have? Why not send him back and have him beheaded and end this miserable scheme? Thor could take the cube back to Asgard also without the mortal.

Still… he had nowhere to go, and somehow, living still felt better than the thought of being dead. So he made his way over to the couch and decided to wait what would happen.

Setting a table on Midgard obviously meant something different than setting a table on Asgard. Stark and Thor were nursing a beverage from brown bottles, Loki could see that there were some glasses and other bottles on the table where the engineer had sat down before to take off the shackles, no cutlery, no decoration, no nothing. Both gagging device and handcuffs had disappeared, though, as had the toolbox.

Tony currently was unpacking a heap of boxes, opening the one on top, grabbing a slice of Pizza and stuffing it into his mouth, offering the contents of the box he just opened to Thor who just did the same.

"Have a seat", Tony called out while sitting down, washing down his bite of ugh! Pepper's Pizza with a gulp of beer and handed the box and the slice to the woman who was just sitting down next to him.

"That's your rabbit food, oh significant other… Where's my ham and mushrooms?" He started digging through the stack of boxes.

Thor was happily munching on his slice, throwing her a side glance.

"You can keep it, Thor, J.A.R.V.I.S. always orders from the place where they make Pizza the size of a cartwheel, it's too much for me anyways", Pepper smiled, taking the box Tony was holding out to her with the large _Veg_ scribbled on top, opened it and held it out to Loki, only now realizing how he had positioned his right arm.

"Tony, we don't have a sling lying around by chance?"

The engineer lifted his head, throwing a quick glance at the freshly washed Demigod and then scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, yah, the fractured shoulder blade, huh? There should be some in the medical supplies. J?"

Obviously, the ethereal voice had informed its creator of his condition. Wonderful.

" _Indeed, there are arm slings in the storage for medical supplies. Shall I…"_

"You don't have to pamper me. It will heal fast enough, tomorrow it will just be one more bruise of many", Loki spoke up, overwhelmed with so many people fussing about his wellbeing.

"Nonsense. J.A.R.V.I.S. said it should be fine in a week, so you will get something to immobilize that arm", the redhead answered, closing the box with her food and putting the half eaten slice on top of it before getting up again, halfway on her way to the elevator when Loki was done frowning at her.

Tony silenced him before he could speak up one more time. "Don't go there, Bambi. You will get this sling, if you want it or not. Pep already decided that you need it. It's just not worth it arguing about stuff like that, she'll just lock you out of your workshop for two days straight and hides the coffee machine, and J.A.R.V.I.S. is happily conspiring with her…"

" _If I remember this incident correctly, Sir, it was a sprained ankle at this time and you were still recovering from palladium poisoning. You were not even able to walk to the workshop."_

"But you didn't have to hide the coffee maker!" Tony finally had found his pizza and fell back on the couch with an exasperated huff, taking a large bite of his slice.

" _You were supposed to rest, and the coffee maker was broken, by the way, we did not hide it, Sir",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. bantered back.

"That's your story, kiddo", Tony mouthed around his food, realizing that both Demigods were sending him weird looks. "What? I started programming him more than 20 years ago, we're allowed to banter like an old, married couple. Now, eat up before it's getting cold."

Thor just grinned, finishing the slice he had stolen from Pepper and then opened another box, devouring another slice. "Help yourself, brother. The Midgardian food is delicious. Maybe friend Tony could arrange for some popped tarts. Lady Jane loves them for breakfast."

Before Loki could scold Thor about calling him brother again, after all, they were NOT brothers, Tony broadly grinned at the blonde God. "Aw, Thor, you dog, sharing pop tarts for breakfast? You've been in New Mexico for how long? A few days? And already bedding a hot astrophysicist! Well, that doesn't break any records because that one time I was in New Mexico there were these three…"

Thor's "I have not…" was interrupted. "Good Lord, Tony, stop bragging about your conquests, please, neither Thor nor Loki want to know that you slept with every woman between 18 and 32 on the west coast", Pepper exclaimed, reappearing with a dark-blue something in her hand.

"Every woman? This is quite some…" the Demigod now asked, flabbergasted.

"Oh, Thor, shut up, Lady Pepper was exaggerating!" At least Loki hoped she was. Then he realized, that he just had yelled at his brother, err… Thor. Tony was just laughing.

"Busted. I only slept with every other…"

"Can we please change the topic?" The redhead moved in front of Loki and gently put the sling around his body and arm, securely fastening it. Scrutinizing the wound on his forehead she decided against bandaging it. It looked clean and closed; it would heal better without being covered. Standing straight again, she smiled at the Demigod, before moving back to Stark's side.

"Didn't we get some wine? We ordered like 12 boxes of Pizza!" she said, reaching for Tony's beer when J.A.R.V.I.S. beeped again.

" _Miss Potts, alcoholic beverages are not recommended in your current state."_

Hand stopping midair, the engineer and his CEO shared a look, before Pepper turned to the table for water. Loki's eyes narrowed. This was the third time J.A.R.V.I.S. stopped Pepper from doing certain things…

"Thank you, J.A.R.V.I.S… Uhm… so… who is that guy who wants that stupid blue cube, then?" she asked, directly approaching the 500 pound gorilla in the room. The look on Loki's face told her he'd rather talk about Tony's conquests. He still had not touched his food and now was asking for something to drink first.

* * *

"His name is Thanos…" Loki was nervously clutching the glass with his beverage.

"He… found me, after…", he hesitated.

"After you fell into the Void", Thor supplied silently, setting his bottle down. After just letting go to fall into the Void… Locking his gaze with his brother's, he gulped at the lump that was forming in his throat. "We thought you were dead, brother." He reached out for Loki, but the other God recoiled into his seat.

"We are not brothers, Thor. How many times do I have to tell you?"

"We grew up together… we were playing practical jokes on the guards… we fought together in battle, I know you for the almost two millennia you have lived until now, how can you say that we are not brothers…?" Blue eyes were looking sincerely at Loki, and he could see that Thor meant what he just had said.

"Did Odin even tell you what I am, Thor? I'm not even an Æsir… "

"Well, that explains the shape shifting and what a talented mage you are. I am not blind, brother, I knew that mother was not pregnant before you came to the palace. It does not change anything."

"I am Jotun, Thor." Loki stated this calmly, watching Thor. The other Demigod opened his mouth to answer something, but obviously did not know what to say, so he closed it again.

"Oh, jadda jadda jadda, everywhere there's family tragedies. Is it nature or nurture that forms you? Get going, guys, Thanos found you after you fell into the Asgardian version of a bottomless pit, and then?"

Pepper rolled her eyes at her fiancée's obvious insensitivity, Loki, however, appeared to be grateful that they would avoid this topic, at least for now.

"He found me, but he and his servant are not exactly enjoyable hosts… he is searching for something, also for the cosmic cube, but he is travelling worlds even though he knew it was on this planet. He apparently thought I knew more about the cube, since it had been stored on Asgard for eons… I thought it would be just a quick thing, get the cube, and then I would be left in peace, but… they wanted to see this planet burn…"

Tony leaned back, Pizza now forgotten on the table, and Pepper scooted with him, her hand resting on his knee.

"They?"

"His servant… the Other. They gathered from my deeds on Asgard, from what I did to Jotunheim, that I was set to cause chaos and destruction. I never corrected them. Obviously, they did not trust me with the scepter, though. Ever since he gave it to me, everything was in a blur. Why start a war when I could have stealthily moved into the base through the first portal, grab the cube, and teleport out of there? It would have been possible, it would have been easy. They wanted a portal, though, another one, not to bring me back, but to bring the Chitauri here…"

Loki's gaze was unfocused now, his thoughts running. He had asked these questions before, never aloud, though, because Thanos and the Other deemed these thoughts unnecessary. Why kill someone if you did not have to? It appeared, there couldn't be enough dead in this invasion, Thanos had been willing to sacrifice an entire race for getting hold of the cube, be it humans or Chitauri.

"What is he? What are they? Also Chitauri?" The engineer's voice ripped him out of his musings and only now he realized that everybody in the room had stopped eating and was listening.

"I… don't know. Thanos is of no race I have ever seen; the Asgardian libraries may have information about this. The Other…" Loki shrugged as well as he could with the broken bone in his back. He was not an expert in alien races, he knew the ones Asgard was dealing with, and that…

"And what do they want to do with the cube? What's up with the scepter? Can I take it apart and look what's inside?" Tony interrupted his thoughts.

Loki looked at the engineer who was once more steering the conversation into more comfortable waters even though he let not even drop one word that it was the Other that had caused the Demigod distress.

"I do not think that this would be wise, Man of Iron."

"Tony."

Loki frowned at the man.

"My name is Tony. I'm Iron Man when I'm in the suit. Do you think we could find something on Asgard about that stuff, too? And is it really a library, as in you'd have to browse thousands of books? I don't remember when was the last time I was holding an actual book…"

Pepper smiled at that. "I can't imagine you without any electronic gadgets."

"Oh God, I don't wanna live in a world without electronic gadgets. And if I did then I would invent lots of them… Anyways, I guess Thor will have to do some research when he goes back home."

Thor's horrified expression had Loki actually laughing. He could count the times his brother… Thor had been in the library on one hand.

" _I am sorry to interrupt, but it appears that Director Fury and two agents are on the way to Mr. Laufeyson's improvised prison cell",_ J.A.R.V.I.S said after beeping softly.

* * *

Loki had assumed they would put him back in his shackles and muzzle, or ask him to put on a glamour that appeared like he was wearing these things, and would bring him back to that room as fast as possible.

Stark, though, only grabbed another slice of Pepper's Pizza, grinning at her, and leaned back on his couch, propping up his feet on the table.

"It will be hilarious when they find out you're gone. J.A.R.V.I.S., make sure to tape Fury's outburst."

"Tony… wouldn't it be better…?"

The fierce look Tony threw Pepper actually caught the two Demigods off guard.

"No. They couldn't care less what happened to him once we caught Loki, they threw him into a hole and let him rot there, without food and without treating his injuries. Yes, he appeared to be the bad guy, and I'm sorry that yesterday I couldn't care less what would happen to you, or what information you had", he directly addressed Loki now who looked at him astonished.

"Today, Fury did not want to listen, and I made it my responsibility. It's their problem that they are late now, and obviously not smart enough to safely lock up the villain of the week."

"Your responsibility?" Thor leaned his elbows on his knees.

"Yeah. The Tesseract _and_ the scepter should be as far away as possible from S.H.I.E.L.D. People on Earth were messing with the Tesseract already a long time ago, building weapons, seeking world dominance. My father messed with this thing, and… let's not go there, let's just say, it was not pretty…Take it back to Asgard. Don't ask for it, decide it goes there, after all you are a God, who are they to argue with you?"

Leaning forward, the engineer's tone got softer. "And I think Loki should go with you. Explain, what happened. If you're afraid that they won't believe you, I will come along. I saw the Chitauri armada. And I saw the backdoors you kept open while being mind-controlled. This thing is bigger than just S.H.I.E.L.D. losing their blue cube for weapon construction."

Loki still looked at the engineer, while Thor was leaning back, contemplating what the other man had just said. It was logical. Thor would take forever to do the research they needed. Still, going back, facing Odin, facing everyone…

"You would come along to Asgard?" the Demigod asked. Tony nodded, while Pepper was sitting next to him, awkwardly quiet.

"Why?"

Facing the woman next to him, Tony brushed a stray strawberry blond strand away from her face.

"I have my reasons."

" _Sir, Director Fury is at the printer room now and has figured out that Mr. Laufeyson is gone."_

* * *

It took them 5 more minutes to attempt and call Tony who told J.A.R.V.I.S. to stall Fury until they tried overriding him again, to let them think they still could hack the AI.

"Stark, suit up, Loki is gone!" Fury bellowed, not even trying to explain anything else.

Tony calmly leaned back, looking at the agitated man on his Stark phone.

"Wow, your security must be super-lame. How did they lose the super-villain of the year?" Tony almost grinned when the other man growled.

"Stark, for fuck's sake… _Your_ surveillance was in a loop, so gear up, or I swear…!"

"Oh, I see, now it's my fault that your people are too lazy to actually check on their hostage. What makes you think he's still anywhere close to here? He could be gone for hours already."

"He's a prisoner of war, and not a hostage, Stark!" Fury grouched. Tony was standing by now, his tone changing from ridiculing the other man to plain sincere.

"You threw him into a room and let him rot there, you did not even try to figure out whether the Hulk had caused severe damage. No food, no water? Google Geneva Convention and then tell me whether this is how you treat a prisoner."

"Stark!"

"Don't Stark me. My tower is not a cave in Afghanistan, and…"

By now Pepper had gotten up and moved next to Tony, her hand entwining with his.

"We brought him up here into the Penthouse, so call off the red alert, will you?" she said softly, having Tony smirk at her.

"Star Trek analogies? From you?"

"You keep calling the Chitauri Borg because they most probably had a hive mind, and I'm not allowed to make Star Trek references?"

"No, you just got 12% more sexy and adorable because you understood the Borg thing!"

"Who's up there?" Fury bellowed into their banter.

Tony rolled his eyes.

"Loki is up here. We stitched him up and fed him, and currently he's locked up in my panic room. Because that, my friend, is what I would call a secure prison cell, and not a cot in a printer room."

Loki frowned at that. Tony lied without even blinking.

"What the hell… Stark, are you completely out of your mind?"

"No, I seem to be one of the few people being in his mind, thinking there's more to that story. All you see is the cube."

Fury almost smashed his cellphone then.

"You will hand him over, Stark. He is a criminal. He will face justice. We will take him to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters to interrogate…"

"If you want to talk to him, you will do this here. With Thor and me present", Tony interrupted him, authority dripping with every word he said.

"Stark! What the fuck…?"

"You did not want to listen to me this morning when I told you there was more to the story, because you were so busy telling me I was a coward. I'm taking things in my hands now, because your organization's solution to everything appears to be annihilating threats without thinking."

"That nuke allowed you to end the invasion!"

"Yeah, but if I had not been there, New York now would be the new Grand Canyon. If you want to talk to Loki, call in again tomorrow, and we will meet and make sure that no ant-boot analogies are needed. J, disconnect the call."

" _Sir, director Fury is still yelling into his cell phone."_

* * *

There had been other calls from the members of the Avengers, trying to reason with him (Bruce), trying to manipulate him (Natasha), or flat out threatening him (Clint, however, not as convincingly as he tried to be; Steve, pretty scary, huh) to hand over the Demigod, but Tony just told them to fuck off and rather offered both Thor and Loki a guest room in the Penthouse.

"You are not going to lock me up in this… panic room?" Loki asked, after taking his first bite of Pizza. It was cold by now, but it tasted good.

Tony smirked at him as he devoured the slice and grabbed for another.

"You know, the purpose of a panic room is to keep people out of this room, not locking in the one that is inside. They just hear panic room and they know that in my case it will be heavily fortified, but that is where their thoughts are stopping. Tell me more about that scepter, though, that's actually more interesting…"

So Loki had told the engineer what he knew, eventually finishing his Pizza and two leftover slices from Pepper's, deciding that these yellow triangles called pineapples did not deserve the disgusted expression Tony had worn earlier.

Tony unconsciously started tapping his chest, the place where the scepter had failed. Had it been the fact that it was not in direct contact with his skin? Or had the electromagnetic field of his arc reactor something to do with it?

"I… I am still wondering why it did not work", Loki said, watching the engineer's hand fist over his chest. He still did not know at all why this man was defending him.

Stark chose to ignore his question.

"J, what are S.H.I.E.L.D.'s flying monkeys doing? They still bothering you?"

" _I switched off the power supply to the floor they are occupying and short-circuited some of their equipment. The new firewall you installed two weeks ago is taking care of the rest, Sir."_

Tony gritted his teeth at that. "I swear, one day I will strangle Fury with his eye patch. If they get too obnoxious, tell me."

Getting up from his place on the couch, he dragged up a sleepy Pepper with him, pecking her nose, before addressing the Demigods. "I'm beat, so, good night. Guestrooms are at the end of the hallway this way. If you need anything, just ask J.A.R.V.I.S.."

When they had left the room, Loki threw Thor a look.

"I still don't want to talk about… us."

Thor reached out and patted his thigh, and this time Loki did not shrug away.

"How about we solve this mess first? I hope I will not have to hunt you down again? Friend Tony is very generous, and I do not think he has ill motives. Just don't run away, brother."

"This is the most secure place for me, in the moment, so… it would be stupid to run away." Where else should he go? He only realized now that he had let slip another _brother_ from Thor's side.

Getting up from his seat, Thor stretched his body and then walked into the direction Tony had indicated. "Sleep well, brother."

Loki's gaze followed him. As if he could sleep with everything crushing down on him. Reaching out to the table he took another bottle of water, struggling a bit to open it with his confined arm.

Mess.

That word was not even starting to describe what they just got in.

* * *

A soft beeping woke the Demigod, figuring out that he had fallen asleep on the couch, curled onto his left side. He put an effort in keeping his breathing even, eyes closed.

"Don't beep me, J", a silent voice called out, bare feet tapping over the marble floor.

" _Only you, Sir, or also Miss Potts?"_

"Does Miss Potts want to be beeped? You know what, just beep away…" Tony shuffled close to the bar, eyeing the contents in there. Of course his alcohol had survived… it would be even harder to stop his excessive drinking knowing what goods were stashed in there.

Allowing himself one late night drink, he fixed himself some scotch, ice cubes silently clicking in the glass.

" _You should rest, Sir."_

"I know, Buddy. I just can't. Bring up the footage of the battle, and everything else we have on tape. Might as well prepare a little demonstration how our little Trickster God did everything he could to not take over earth. Did everyone confirm they are coming?"

" _Indeed Sir, they did. Sir, Mr. Laufeyson is currently sleeping on the couch. Do you want me to wake him?"_

"Nah, let him sleep, I'll be quiet. Do we have S.H.I.E.L.D. data on when he infiltrated the base?"

The room lit up as pictures appeared in front of Tony, his hand quickly sorting out what was not interesting, briefly stopping at Loki's pained expression when he got on the back of the truck. Why not get inside? Why get a truck at all? Why did he move as if he was in pain? Why was Fury claiming that 80 people had been killed in the base, yet there were no clean-up efforts or tries to retrieve the bodies?

He kept on working, moving to Stuttgart, trying to figure out what had happened to the poor man whose eyeball they were using. Curiously, he still had his eye, and it was functioning… Interesting… and where did he get this device from? Didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. make sure the archer had no longer access to their stuff after he had been compromised?

Pictures kept flying in front of him, and Loki dared to open his eyes, watching the reflection of the man and his flying pictures in the window he had not destroyed. After a while he was dosing off again, only to wake to the silent patter of another pair of feet.

"You've been gone for more than one hour already", Pepper whispered, hands sliding around Tony until she was pressed against his back, her face coming to rest between his shoulder blades.

"I can't sleep. My brain just won't switch off, Pepper."

"Did you find out something?"

"Well, after what J.A.R.V.I.S. dug out from Norse mythology, and if only half of it is true, my trip to that Afghan cave, including having my chest carved open while being wide awake, and being waterboarded while hooked up to a car battery, appears like a trip to a fun park compared to what they did to him. Howard was a role model for parenting compared to Odin…"

Norse mythology, huh? Loki made a mental note to ask J.A.R.V.I.S. about that if they ever were interacting on other terms than ambivalently being threatened and helped. And what waterboarding was. And who this Howard person was.

Tony hummed silently as Pepper's hands slid underneath his shirt, caressing over his abs.

"Isn't there some way I could coax you back into bed with me?"

Bracing his hands against the table in front of him, Tony let out a soft groan as her hands moved deeper.

"Blunt, soon-to-be Mrs. Stark." His voice sounded a bit strangled as one hand followed that narrow band of hair on his lower belly, letting his mind wander into the gutter.

Then, Pepper made a triumphant "Hah!" sneaking out a little box from the pocket of his joggers.

"Peps…"

„You've been carrying around this little thing since noon. I'm dying to see what you and J.A.R.V.I.S. chose."

Turning around, Tony snatched the box out of Pepper's hands.

"I… actually, I had it for longer", he said, feeling quite self-conscious now as she scrutinized him.

"You only proposed this morning, how…?"

Tony carefully cradled the box, lowering his gaze. "It's my grandmother's engagement ring. One of the few things Mom left me that I didn't sell or donate. She even wrote in her will that if I found a chick that wanted the rock Howard gave her, I should run", he chuckled silently.

Pepper watched him wide-eyed. "You… you brought it with you?" And then realization hit her. "You planned on proposing!"

Tony nodded. "The night Agent came and you left me to my homework. Why do you think I wanted to get rid of him so desperately?"

"Because you always want to get rid of him."

It hurt to think of Coulson.

"So, what would you have said?"

Pepper smiled, embracing him again, her hands once more disappearing under his shirt, caressing his back now.

"Well, ask me?"

„Do I have to get down on my knee? Because the entire day I have been plié-ing and relevé-ing when I wanted to lift something, because everything else hurts…"

"Just ask me, Tony", Pepper whispered, brushing his lips with hers.

"Virginia Potts…will you marry me?" Tony asked, and unbeknownst to him, also Loki held his breath while waiting for the woman's answer. Wait – who was this Virginia person?

She took long enough for the Demigod to almost yell "Say yes, finally!" while wondering at the same time why his romantic side was rearing its head just now?

"Yes!" she finally whispered and softly captured Tony's lips again, her hands sneaking down to his buttocks, raking her fingernails over them until he shivered and hummed again.

"Brain successfully switched off?" she asked when they separated, having the engineer nod.

"Yah… about 12%."

Hugging him close, Pepper kissed him once more, resting her forehead against his. "Feels more like 50%... and increasing… come on, let's go back to bed…"

"Minx", was all Stark answered before following her suit, her soft laughter trailing up the stairs.

Loki couldn't help the smile that crept on his face. There were people who did not want to kill each other. People who loved each other. People who wanted to help him.

Hopefully… he would not fail them.

Dozing off he did not notice J.A.R.V.I.S. turning off Stark's multimedia show and tinting the intact windows, upping the temperature in the room a few degrees because the Demigod chose to continue sleeping without a blanket.


	5. White lands, reviving

_**Chapter 5: White Lands, reviving**_

 _There's a lot of randomness in the decisions that people make. (Daniel Kahneman)_

* * *

Pepper was worried. But ever since she was working for Tony Stark, this somehow had become a regular feeling, even long before they became involved. In the beginning, she had thought she would not stay for long with this eccentric mess of a workaholic who needed her for basically everything concerning his life. When feeling needed had become a feeling she relished, making him happy had become the goal of her life, was beyond her.

She had let him down after he came out of the closet about being Iron Man and the government had nothing better to do than demand everything Tony held dear at this moment. She had misread his signs of interest on purpose, because Tony Stark was not that type of man, wanting one woman, right? Tony Stark was the man who selfishly chose to give away their art collection and drove that fucking race car in Monaco and was so drunk at his birthday party and… was dying and chose not to tell a single soul about it, while arranging everything for when he would not be there anymore.

When everything fell into place, when she had learned about the Palladium poisoning, she was devastated. And she realized that she knew the man better than what she chose to see all these months, just because it was easier. They had had long talks about this topic, with Pepper crying and apologizing, with Tony reassuring her that everything was fine, that he never was resentful with people he loved, and that she had every right to just see him as he appeared to be, after all it took quite some effort to make it look like he was still the unreasonable, unreliable playboy he claimed to be back then.

What Rhodey did had hurt more. Pepper, after all, still somehow cared. She always worried. And now she had one more person to worry about.

Was she collecting the hopeless cases?

* * *

Loki had never been a morning person; he had always liked to start his day late, never liked the stiff protocols concerning when to eat and what to wear. He would stay up until late at night and crawl into bed when his vision started blurring and he could not make out the words anymore in the book that he was just reading. He would eat when his stomach growled loud enough (and the feeling of actually being hungry was annoying enough), no matter what time of the day…

Thor was quite the opposite. He got up early, and he was good natured, talking your ear off when sitting next to you during breakfast when Loki was still trying to get his brain to working and desperately wanted just to be left alone.

Obviously, these were things that never changed. Thor's booming "Good morning, Friend Tony!" made the other Demigod startle awake, asking himself how long he had been sleeping, and how he could let his guard down that much that anybody was able to startle him awake… a groan interrupted his thoughts and he rose enough to peek over the back of the couch into the direction from where he had heard Thor.

The blonde God had a towel around his shoulders and marched barefoot and bare-chested into the kitchen, opening a cupboard.

Stark sat at the table, head on the table top, his arms just hanging down.

" _Mr. Odinson, the pop tarts you ordered are in the cupboard to your left",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. announced after the soft beeping sound, and Thor announced this gratitude in a volume that made Loki want to cover his ears.

Tony didn't even move, just groaned once more.

"Friend Tony, what happened to you?" Thor asked, looking around for the device named toaster to heat up his breakfast.

"The wicked witch of the East made me get up at fuck-no in the morning to see my chiropractor", the engineer grouched against the table, not moving a limb.

"Well, excuse me if that back-spasm last night was rather frightening. How do you feel?" Both Demigods lifted their heads as Pepper appeared. She was wearing a black business costume, her hair back in a tight bun, heels and a briefcase in her hands and slowly walked down the stairs.

"No longer like I got beat up 3 days in a row and the Hulk prevented me from ending up as an Iron pancake on the pavement… did I thank Bruce for that, J…?" Stark still had not moved, but Loki decided to get up when Pepper turned towards the couch instead of approaching the kitchen.

" _You did, Sir, more than once."_

"Good morning, Loki. I hope you slept well. How's the shoulder?" Pepper asked the Demigod.

Combing his free hand through his hair, Loki eyed the redhead as she gently smiled at him.

"S-surprisingly well. My shoulder is healing."

"Good to hear. Join us for breakfast, will you? It's gonna be a hard day, Fury is annoying J.A.R.V.I.S. already for one hour, and the widow has been crawling through the air ducts all morning to find a way up here."

So the Demigod followed her as she moved on to the table where her fiancée was sitting, raking her left hand through the short hair at the base of his head, a ring sparkling on the finger harboring the vena amoris. Tony almost purred at her touch, but still did not move.

"Are you really alright?" she asked, taking a brief look at the coffee maker. J.A.R.V.I.S. was obviously monitoring that, as the machine sprang to live and started gurgling.

"Yaaah… I just figured out that I just could've told Fury that I'm too old for that shit… Seriously, look at them. Lokes was smashed into my marble floor, Capsicle fought the alien army more or less on his own, and Pikachu here was thrown from the helicarrier and stabbed… They're all 20 year old jocks on steroids and I'm the only one approaching the wrong side of 40 and had to have my bone crusher set my back…"

While Loki was still frowning at _Lokes_ , and Thor was slightly wondering what a Pikachu was while stuffing the first pop tarts into the toaster, Pepper just smiled and continued caressing Tony's neck.

'"You stood your ground against the Thundergod, my Love, you were sucked into the frickin' engine of this helicarrier, and please remind me to give Steve a piece of my mind for not pulling this lever on time, and you saved New York and by extension the Earth. Your 20 year old self would have run away screaming."

At that, Tony finally lifted his head, dark circles present under his eyes, and the God of Mischief held his breath. The other man looked utterly exhausted, but now sat up straight and looked at his woman.

"J.A.R.V.I.S. has been telling on me, huh?"

" _You never said that Miss Potts was not allowed to read the S.H.I.E.L.D. reports on this mission, Sir, you never denied her access to any of the…"_ Stark waved his AI off, still watching Pepper.

"It's ok, J. How are you feeling, Pep?" Then his nostrils flared. "Oh… coffee…" Still, he did not get up but rather turned and closed his arms around the woman next to him, his head resting against her upper stomach, inhaling deeply.

"Mmmmh, you smell like peaches. You ok?" he repeated, making Loki once more wonder about the fact that both the computer and the engineer were treating the woman like a raw egg. Pepper just smiled.

"You'll be the first to know when I'm not. Now, drink your coffee and then gear up, Honey, I'm walking into a warzone there, and I need your backup."

While Tony finally got up from his chair and poured his first cup of coffee this morning, Pepper put on her heels. Loki and Thor threw both humans confused looks.

"I do not think it is wise to fight the Man of Fury and the other Avengers, Friend Tony. We very likely would win, considering that the green beast likes you, but would that not make everything worse?"

Loki threw Thor an impressed look. That was just what he had been thinking.

Pepper rose 4 inches with her heels, her posture suddenly even straighter and somewhat intimidating.

"Oh. It will be war. War with bureaucrats. That's what Pepper's good at, at dealing with them and making them do what she wants. That's why I will be 20 minutes late…" a side glance from Pepper made him roll his eyes, "10 minutes late for the meeting, let her scold me and show them who's the boss." Tony gulped down the hot liquid, years of practice having numbed the nerves that were supposed to tell him that it actually was still too hot.

"Bureaucrats…?" The Demigods echoed.

"Oh, you haven't been following what radiated in the news the past two days, huh? The World Security Council is doing good work concealing everything about the Tesseract, or S.H.I.E.L.D., they just talk about an alien invasion, they don't show you, or Thor, only the Hulk, Captain America and Iron Man." Stark let out an almost orgasmic sigh after taking another gulp of coffee.

"They want to keep it a secret, as well as they want to keep you two a secret. We will tell the people who should be interested what really happened."

* * *

To say Fury was pissed was an understatement. Not only did he find the entire Avengers Team in the huge conference room, nope, every secret or not so secret agencies' top heads were present in that room, and not only the ones of their own country, nope, obviously, Stark had gone international.

Business-Pepper had silenced the initial rant with one sharp look, though. Equally sharp heels made a noise even on the carpet in there, as she strode in purposefully, naturally claiming her seat in front of them at the head of the table. Thor was at her side, but then sat down with two empty chairs between them. Loki would arrive with Tony, and they had made sure that he did not look anything like a prisoner.

Tony's plan to arrive well calculated 10 minutes late did not work out in the end, since the minister of defense was also late. At least he looked neat and impeccable in Armani, most of the bruises in his face covered by make-up, and he greeted the man with one of his wide smiles, only hesitating a millisecond before actually shaking the other man's hand.

Thor had visited the guest quarters and changed into his armor, looking quite impressive among the mortals. But maybe that had something to do with the fact that Mjolnir was hanging from his belt. And maybe the cape… maybe. Okay, and the fact that this guy was like 7 feet tall and all muscles.

J.A.R.V.I.S. had organized a suit similar to Tony's for Loki, yet the Demigod had foregone the tie (and the make-up), and the suit did not fit him as nicely as it did Tony (but that's why you have tailored clothes, right?), but it was well enough and at least he did not have to wear his torn and shredded armor, or the casual clothes Bruce Banner was sporting. It did occur to him that he never even was mentioning that he could care for his own clothing… it was nice that somebody was taking such an effort for him.

He would have felt out of place wearing blue jeans. What he did, though, on Pepper's insistence, was keeping the sling in place. Indeed, it made him look like he did not pose any threat, and for now, this was what they needed. All of them looked at him as Stark pulled out the chair next to Pepper for him and slightly touched his arm to get his attention and made him sit down, before taking the seat between the Trickster God and Thor, sending Pepper an affectionate smile.

Loki watched in awe just how efficiently Stark and Lady Pepper destroyed the lame excuse of a cover up story S.H.I.E.L.D. had invented, informing everyone in detail what really had happened. The Tesseract, the scepter. About Phase 2. About Loki's help and Thanos, and boy, the guys from the US government were utterly pissed when they heard about the secret weapons. The Demigod just sat there, between Stark and Lady Pepper and felt oddly safe, yet oddly self-conscious, especially when one woman on one of the screens scrutinized him during the story of what happened in that town where he set up his diva-show of _Kneel before me!_ to provide a distraction for the archer.

It was her who spoke up first when the facts had been displayed.

"How big is this threat by Thanos?"

"This is exactly why we need the Tesseract… we…" Fury stopped when she looked at him with a _Who are you and why are you interrupting me?_ expression. The woman was not what anybody would call an eye catcher, and if you saw her during everyday life on a street you would not believe that she was ruling one of the most powerful nations on Earth. Though, while most other men in the room or on the screen were talking over each other or conferring with associates and consultants, her gaze was directed at Loki.

"How big is the threat if he cannot open another portal?" She was calm, her hard accent making the Demigod wonder why she did not just use her mother language and just have it translated. But then, never trust an interpreter, right?

"I… do not know. It will be significantly harder for him to reach your planet, though I do not know exactly where he is residing", Loki answered, and watched her as she kept thinking.

The woman turned to Stark, then. "How could Thanos be using the Tesseract if he is light-years away? Was Loki a catalyst? Why did the Tesseract follow this entity's orders?"

Stark soon found out that the woman knew how to speak physics. He never had been into politics, he barely knew which country she was governing and that most of the people always thought she was waiting out decisions most of the time. What he learned now was that she was carefully calculating each of her steps.

Which was pretty comprehensible, considering the fact that her country had lost two World Wars and Earth was still not done letting them live it down. Whenever they were involved, no matter how humanitarian, and if it was just planting trees somewhere, someone for sure would dig out the telltale beard and a brown uniform. They simply could not react by pulling out the big guns, and wait what might happen. Though he was pretty sure they did have big guns when it came to the point. Country of poets and thinkers and inventors, after all, they'd just be stupid to show them in public, boasting with them.

The entire room protested when they came to the conclusion that the Tesseract was better kept elsewhere, far away from Earth, but that was Thor's clue.

He did not jump up. His loud voice alone was enough to silence the people in the conference room.

"It already has been decided that the cube and the scepter will be brought to Asgard. You have no say in this, mortals."

And only now Fury seemed to realize what a mistake it had been to let Stark take care of locking away not only Loki, but also safely storing the cube and the scepter.

Two days ago it only had been logical. He had the resources that were necessary. Now, especially after having the AI act up for two days and make it significantly harder (read: impossible) to override it, he supposed it was really hard to get any hold of both objects.

"You are most probably ridding us of the only chance to defend ourselves against Thanos, you know that, Stark? What are we supposed to do? Turn to Hammer-Tech?"

* * *

"I cannot believe you apologized to all of them, Loki!" Thor obviously had the time of his life, replaying how his little brother formally apologized for his display in Stuttgart and his invasion of the planet.

"It seemed somehow important", the other Demigod answered. After scrutinizing him for another while the woman on the screen seemed contented, telling him she would let her people know. A few other countries had changed their opinion, following her path after she had declared that she voted for the cube to be gone. Not that it was important. Nobody would want to argue with the God who decided the items would go with him. Fury tried but was shushed immediately.

"Well, they don't do well with world domination. Tried it twice, lost both times. You wanna know more, ask Cap about it. Your _Kneel before me_ performance reared some very bad memories, I guess."

Stark was in a bad mood. As soon as they had left the conference room, with Loki privily feeling happy that everybody appeared to be convinced that he was controlled (interestingly enough, the archer had worn a very thoughtful expression then), too, and that nobody even brought up the fact that he should be punished (well, Fury tried, but was told that they really had bigger problems in the moment), but rather asked for his opinion, or wanted to know how he could help, he had ripped of his tie and sported an expression as if somebody had made him eat a lemon.

"It went surprisingly well", the dark-haired Demigod offered, somehow feeling obliged now to help. They called him the Silvertongue, but what Lady Pepper and Stark had presented in there gave him a run for his money, at least concerning his involvement in the entire taking-over-the-planet thing. Where they would go from here still needed to be analyzed.

"Really? At which meeting have you been?" The elevator stopped briefly at the level where the guest suites were, letting Thor out to get rid of his armor and change back into the _heavenly comfortable_ clothes Midgard had to offer. It continued to the Penthouse without anyone saying anything, Pepper just throwing a worried look at the engineer.

He rid himself of his jacket the second the elevator doors opened, and opened the upper two buttons of his shirt. His way led him directly to the bar, trying to figure out which of his spirituous beverages would take him out the fastest.

"At which meeting have you been, Honey? They agreed on researching Thanos, not imprisoning Loki, and having the Tesseract and the scepter taken to Asgard", she supplied, slowly removing her heels. This was off-business business, she was not quite sure what was bugging Tony.

The engineer whirled around, eyes narrowed at his fiancée and the Demigod who seemed to be just as oblivious as Pepper.

"Really? Did you somehow miss the part that _I_ am ridding Earth of the only possibility to fend off Thanos? Not _we are losing the possibility,_ but _Tony Stark, selfish asshole extraordinaire is ridding us, blame him if anything's going wrong!"_ His hand fisted around the neck of one of the bottles, suddenly not feeling like drinking from it, but rather smashing it to the next wall.

While Pepper rushed over to the engineer, most probably saving the bottle's life, Loki stood awkwardly nailed to the spot, not knowing how to escape that scene. Stark kept on ranting, and considering the fact that up to now he only once had heard the mortal raise his voice when he was begging J.A.R.V.I.S. for the suit, the volume was quite impressive.

"How come that no matter what I do I always come out as the one to blame? _Tony Stark doesn't want to build weapons anymore, oh, let's turn to Hammer-Tech – oops, his stuff is crap, let's steal Tony's suit and have Hammer tamper with it, and oops, it's not working as it should, but still, it must be Stark's fault!"_

His breathing became ragged, brushing off the hand Pepper offered as she had put the bottle away. He was opening another button of his shirt, revealing an undershirt now.

"Maybe I should just go back to building weapons, it's gonna end there anyway. J.A.R.V.I.S.? Dig out the J.E.R.I.C.H.O. and H.E.L.L.R.A.I.S.E.R. files I've been working on before that fucking trip to Afghanistan. I'll bomb this planet into oblivion if that is what they want!" His vision started to blur and he could hear his own blood rushing in his ears. Grabbing onto the counter to stabilize himself he frantically opened another button. Why the fuck couldn't he breathe?

Slender hands caught his head, lifting his face to be caught in her worried blue gaze, and it allowed him to focus for the shortest time.

"Tony, you are scaring me", Pepper said, trying to stay as calm as possible. Her arms closed around him as his legs gave way, making him scoot to the ground rather than toppling over, while he was pushing out a strangled "can't breathe…"

"Tony! J.A.R.V.I.S.! D-do a scan… the heart! Please tell me his heart is fine?!" Pepper did not sound anywhere near calm anymore, and the fact that she sounded rather hysterical made Tony's head snap up, only to rest it at her shoulder, painful gulps of air also making him take in her scent.

" _Sir's heart is operating normally under these circumstances, Miss Potts. It appears you are suffering a panic attack, Sir. Please, concentrate on your breathing, and please refrain from crushing Miss Potts' wrist."_

Only now Tony realized he was indeed squeezing down hard on something that appeared to be Pepper's arm. Fuck. This would bruise. He let go immediately, yet, he was not able to lift his head, so he closed his hand around the fingers brushing his skin and did, what J.A.R.V.I.S. had told him. Focus on his breathing.

"'m sorry", he mumbled after some minutes.

"It's okay, Tony."

"No, 's not… I hurt you… I cannot go back to building weapons, Pep. Please, make sure they don't make me. Too many people got killed because of me."

She hugged him close, a soothing hand running down his back. When he finally lifted his head, she rested her forehead against his.

"Since when can anyone make Tony Stark do something he does not want to do?" she whispered.

"I do pretty much everything you want me to do", he answered, a sly smile appearing on his face. Sighing deeply, he briefly closed his eyes.

"I just completely ridiculed myself in front of a God. The only thing that's been missing is me crying about being afraid of ever having to fly into a wormhole again."

"I think Loki can cope with that", Pepper answered, breaking contact with Tony, only to find said Demigod on his knees right next to them, a shocked expression on his face. It was his hand Tony was crushing in his firm grip, and his current position seemed to dawn to him only now, his eyes lowering instantly.

"Grrreat… how about all of us get up now, feel a tiny bit humiliated, and then let's never talk about this incident again?"

Uncurling his fingers from the Demigod's hand Tony sat back on his calves, catching Pepper's arm.

"It's bruising already, God, I'm so sorry, Pep…"

"It's just a bruise, Tony, I'll live."

Long, pale fingers appeared close to where Tony was still caressing the reddened skin, not touching, but seeking permission.

"May I?" Loki asked, addressing and facing the woman.

* * *

A loud voice startled him awake, for the second time this day. Yet, this time it had a more feminine touch, not Thor's booming noises. Loki had retired to the guestroom he had been offered already the day before, and while he just thought about briefly testing the bed, he must have fallen asleep.

"I just want to know _Why_ , Tony!"

Obviously, he had not closed the door entirely. Keeping his eyes closed he pretended to doze off again, who knew if J.A.R.V.I.S. was not also watching him in bed.

"Do you really think anybody will believe him? If not for Angie down there we'd have had a lot more trouble of convincing those old farts of what happened. I have a feeling that in Asgard they think he's lying by default!"

Stark's voice was calm. He had watched in awe how the bruise on Pepper's arm had vanished under Loki's treatment, before he got pulled back to his legs by the Demigod who offered a "This has never happened?"

Pepper's voice was silent when she addressed Tony again. Loki was holding his breath and straining his ears to hear what she said.

"Why now? Why you…?"

"Because this is something that should not be dragged out longer than necessary? Who would speak for him? His own fucking brother once sewed his mouth shut and if I didn't have the tiniest amount of self-preservation, Thor would have made a dive out of the window yesterday after grinning at me like some bumbling idiot…"

The Demigod swallowed. Stark did not know how right he was. Nobody would speak up for him. No, that was not correct. His mother would take a long look at him, estimating what might be the truth – she would know what had happened, but Odin had overruled her reasoning with him so many times that he was not quite sure if she would still take the effort.

He was dragged out of his musings by the engineer's "Oh, Pep, please, don't cry…"

He could hear the tears in her voice as she spoke again, feeling horrible for causing distress, after all she had been nothing but kind to him.

"I feel so selfish… I cannot do this alone, Tony… Please, don't leave me…"

Loki thoroughly hoped the other man was gathering her in his arms now.

"What? Where does that come from? As if I'd ever leave you, you're the best thing that has ever happened to me!"

He voice was muffled by now, sounding as if she was talking against some fabric.

"But he's spiked your interest…"

The inventor sounded as confused as Loki felt when he made a tiny "Huh?" sound.

"Loki… he's spiked your interest…", she repeated, still sounding like she was in tears, but more under control again.

"Uhm… so? It's not like I have a Norse deity under my roof every day that I somehow can relate to… we're somewhat similar, Daddy issues, torture issues, and most of the world just sees us for what he have and not what we are. Still, that doesn't mean I'll dump you because I might have found a replacement for Rhodey and will make sure that Thor's never ever alone with Loki in a room."

"You are still pissed because of the suit?" Pepper asked. Tony had said there were no hard feelings, he had let Rhodey keep the suit, and he had not started any of the safety protocols installed so nobody could use it. Still, as much as Rhodey refused to have the War Machine updated, as much Tony was not offering in the past. The other man had crossed a line when he had decided that Tony was a potential threat, showing him that his so-called best friend also did not really know him. Instead of pushing harder to figure out what was wrong, he beat him up and stole his suit. If that was not backstabbing…

Loki repeated Stark's last sentences in his head. The other man was right.

"He was my best friend due to the lack of better options when I was a 14 year old kid, alone at a university with people twice my age having a quarter of my brains. He never was there for me after Afghanistan, he didn't even want to know what I was working on, and I did try to tell him. I was holed up for three months, PTSD-ed and scared and the only kind person taking care of me was you. And then he went behind my back again, because it was easier. The only thing missing was ripping the reactor out like Stane did."

"You touched him, Tony."

At that the Demigod frowned. They had been fighting, touching always was involved there. They… there had been kind touches during the one day that the engineer had decided that Loki was not the bad guy in this scheme. The thumbs brushing his skin under the shackles, a soft touch to get his attention… fingers curled around his hand in panic…

"Well, I do touch other people, occasionally", Tony said, sounding confused.

"No, you don't", Pepper replied.

"You let him touch you", she then said, and to Loki it sounded like that was something the other man made sure it did not happen for whatever reason.

Fingers curled around his hand in panic. But he could have mistaken Loki's hand for Pepper's, right? Then it occurred to him: He had reached out to help Stark back to his feet, and the engineer had not hesitated to take his hand, had not made it a conscious decision to take the hand, like he did it with almost every other person.

"I… I did, didn't I? Still, that doesn't mean I'll leave you. You are the love of my life, Pepper, how could I? And, you know… I'm not l-like..."

The Demigod frowned at that. He was not like what?

Pepper growled. Why did the petite blonde growl?

"God, I'm so glad that Howard was already dead when I met you. I despise him. He had a beautiful wife and a genius son and all he did was cheating on her and ignoring you."

"He was drunk most of the time, and it's not like the other women were not falling into his bed. As for me… maybe it was better we never were close. I could have easily turned into him, keeping me the perfect wife while…"

"Pfft, I had you saluting me after our first night together, as if you'd turn to any other woman!" Pepper exclaimed, having Tony sigh.

"To be honest, I never thought you'd be such a bad girl, Miss Potts."

"Well, to be honest, I thought you would be bored beyond belief with me after all the one nighters you dragged home before Afghanistan, Mr. Stark. Back then I was thinking of having a revolving door built in to that guestroom you took all of them, would have made things easier."

She was grinning now, Loki could hear that. They were back to teasing each other.

Good.

"You are talking about quantity, not quality, Miss Potts. You have exclusive rights to that award winning ass of mine, though", Tony joked back.

"You were only nominated _Rear of the year_ , Tony, you did not win it."

"I was second to fucking Brad Pitt. If he'd not turn down the nominations for _Sexiest Man alive_ lately, they could just stop voting for it, and he would still win it when he was dead. In my eyes I definitely won."

There was a short silence before the woman spoke up again.

"Can't you ask Thor to fetch you if things go wrong? Maybe they will believe Loki, and I would not …"

They walked out of hearing distance and even though being with Thor was not the safest place to be, it was still better than causing her grief.

Turning to his other side the Demigod snuggled against the pillow. Maybe life could stay like this for a little while.

He did not hear the argument rise again, Tony once more declaring that Loki would go nowhere alone with Thor.

* * *

He must have dozed off again, because it was J.A.R.V.I.S.'s soft beeping that woke him again, asking if he wanted to join Miss Potts and Thor for Dinner.

Loki was not really hungry, but he also did not feel good with hiding away while he was causing both Lady Pepper and the Man of Iron so much distress. So he untangled from the sheets, payed a brief visit to the bathroom to make himself presentable and made his way down the hallway, to find the woman and the Thunderer sitting at a table, taking various boxes out of some bags.

"Brother! We are having Indian food today!" Thor appeared to be thrilled to bits, but then, the smell promised something spicy, something they had never tasted before, so why shouldn't he be enthusiastic?

"Will the Man of Iron join us?" The Trickster looked around, not seeing the other man.

Pepper sighed. "He went to his workshop, I guess he's repairing one of his suits, or building a new one for all I know… we kind of had a… disagreement…"

"But… can't the ethereal voice ask him to join us?" Thor sat down, opening one of the boxes and shoved a forkful of yellow rice into his mouth, first chewing cautiously, then smiling, and swallowing another forkful.

"Tony muted J.A.R.V.I.S., and he's also ignoring me. That's why I ordered Indian food, he will complain for days about the smell." She sounded a bit sad, and sighed deeply once more, before starting on her food.

Loki felt horrible. From what he had heard, he had thought they were fine again, had settled their fight about Lady Pepper's reluctance regarding the engineer's wish to accompany Loki to Asgard and testify on his behalf.

A box appeared in Loki's vision, being shoved there by Thor. "Eat, brother, this is delicious."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Thor…"

"Yes, I know, I know, we are not brothers. At least not by blood. For everything else, you just might as well stop telling me, because you will not convince me that anything has changed."

"I am not hungry, Thor."

Both people sent him a long look, yet Thor just decided to shrug it off and continued eating. Pepper put her cutlery down.

"We had a long discussion this afternoon. I am against Tony joining you to Asgard for… very personal and selfish reasons, yet, both of us would feel awful sending you there alone, Loki. But still, you will have to go there, eventually… and he is dead set on going with you…"

"You were arguing because of my wellbeing? Just send Thor and me, and he can come back if I would need a witness. Why should the Man of Iron go to Asgard at all?" He was more or less repeating what he had heard her say this afternoon…

Pepper watched him out of big, blue eyes.

"Do you really think it would work? Both Tony and I think your people will have a hard time believing you even with both Tony and Thor speaking for you. What keeps them from executing you right away? Yes, you would have Thor, but can he really stand up against your father?"

Loki's hand cramped around his thigh, his right arm still confined in the sling. There was nothing that would keep them from doing so. He had just fled this trial by letting go of Thor's hand to fall into the Void and…

"Nothing will happen to you, brother", Thor's voice interrupted his thoughts and he looked at the blonde God. "I will tell father what has happened."

"Thor… this will not change anything."

"Oh, believe me, brother, it will. If the people on Midgard can forgive you and see how you have been used and still managed to find a way to save them, how can our father deny you a hearing?"

"Your father, Thor."

"Will you stop this, finally? I do know that he wronged you, keeping your true nature from you, Norns, I know that I wronged you more than once, when I was laughing along with the Warrior's Three and Sif when they were mocking you being a mage. I am sorry, and I am grateful that you went to extreme measures to humble me, because it was what I needed."

"I…" Thor just continued, ignoring the other God's feeble protest.

"I was the level-headed fool you took me for, and I do not know what happened that turned me into it. Father favoring me as we grew up may very well have contributed to that, but think back to when we were still children, running around in the palace, playing tricks on the servants, and he was just laughing along secretly while mother was scolding us…"

"There are too many things that have happened since then, Thor… and I bore most of it because I thought my father would know what was best. Finding out that I was stolen from another planet as a token, maybe for gaining peace, but mostly Odin did not really know what to do with me, just made everything appear in a different light. He may have been gentle with a child… he never was with the adult. Why should I expect comprehension? For me, going back to Asgard means offering them my head on a silver platter."

"We really should include Tony into this, we need a plan… and a backup plan… and he's good in making plans that have backup plans with backup plans", Pepper sighed. "J.A.R.V.I.S., isn't there any way to get through to him? Write him a message, heck, have DUM-E spray it to him with the fire extinguisher…"

" _Sir has muted me and turned off all external messaging. DUM-E is still grounded and cleaning up one corner in the workshop, while Sir has Iron Maiden blaring from the speakers and is repairing the broken palm repulsor of MARK VI."_

Pepper let out a resigned huff, before turning to her food again. "Someday I will paint one of these goddamn suits pink, just to annoy him…"

Loki watched both the woman and his bro… Thor. Closing his eyes, he thought about the engineer. He had stabbed Thor, still, he knew it would be nothing but a laceration. He had mind-controlled the archer, and he had played with the widow's mind (not so successfully, but still…). The only person (except for the agent he stabbed) he had caused bodily harm and almost killed him, had been the engineer, and still, this man was trying to help him, trying to keep him save, even if it meant him distress.

Concentrating on Stark was hard… there was a barrier, shielding the other man, making it almost impossible to grasp him, but since he was only a few meters away, the Demigod finally managed to localize him, a faint heartbeat, thinking about those warm, brown eyes, and vanished into thin air from the place where he sat at the table.

He was greeted by an infernal noise that made him want to cover his ears. The second he opened his eyes he saw fiery red beams cut through the metal table right in front of him, and panels in the ceiling shifted away to point even more weapons at him. This time the laser point did not wander from his chest upwards but was poised precisely on his forehead.

The music/infernal noise died down instantly as J.A.R.V.I.S.'s main protocol to keep Tony save kicked in, overriding all of the engineer's earlier commands.

Loki took one step back, his free hand lifted, eyes wide with shock. J.A.R.V.I.S. had threatened him, yet he had also been taking care of him, organizing for clothes, asking whether he needed nutrition… Frankly, he had assumed that the AI was not that fast… that teleporting might catch the computer off-guard, as it did just so often with every other enemy he had battled. 6.2 petaflops of computing capacity and a gazillion of sensors and cameras all over the building, meaning that J.A.R.V.I.S. was _everywhere_ at the same time, proved him wrong there.

 _You would not even make it close to Mr. Stark or Miss Potts before my lasers dice you_.

This had not been an empty threat, he realized now, and he was quite sure that he was only alive because the AI knew that he did not mean harm, and still wanted to show him what would happen, if he did.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., what the fuck?!" Tony had jumped up from his workbench where he had been sulking/tinkering until the sudden lack of music made him turn around. He did not like what he saw.

" _There has been an unauthorized access to the workshop, Sir. I am following_ Protocol Guardian _for now."_

"J, since when does _Protocol Guardian_ include dicing my work bench and aiming the entire weapons arsenal at Loki? Is that how we treat guests?!"

J.A.R.V.I.S. tried playing the stupid AI for once, repeating " _There has been an unauthorized access to…"_

"I know, J. I also know you do know better than that. I appreciate you being protective. Put away the big guns, will you? And thanks for the warning shot, I think Loki got the message."

J.A.R.V.I.S. almost growled an " _I should hope so…!"_ Still, he took a few more seconds than necessary to hide away the weapons arsenal again.

Tony's gaze still rested on Loki who dared not moving a limb. "I would make him apologize, but, ya know, he has some point, right? You can't just hop into my workshop, me muting J, blaring music and not answering the phone normally means _Leave me alone, genius at work._ "

"La-Lady Pepper has ordered food… and Thor is starting to make plans, which normally should make every alarm bell ring that is in this realm… Lady Pepper wanted to include you, and since you were tuning out everything, I thought…"

"You'd just hop by, briefly, I see. I guess, Pep ordered Indian, I really pissed her off this afternoon when I told her I'd make sure that nothing would happen to you on Asgard, no matter what she said."

"You should not make such a fuss because of me, Man of Iron."

Tony straightened his back, moving his shoulder until he heard a cracking noise.

"Really? I definitely think somebody should make a fuss. You are the only one who saw that monster, and maybe got at least some insight. I can only rely on Norse mythology here, but there it seems like nobody ever gave a fuck what happened to you while you were trying to help. The horse thing true? The other stories about your kids? Odin ordering to sew your mouth shut and your moronic brother following that order? I'd go on a rampage against my old man for less. Oh, and it's still Tony."

Loki swallowed hard. _If only half of it is true…_ He had no clue what exactly was written in those myths, but Sleipnir, and his other children…

"That's what I thought. Let me tell you something: I know what it means to have a crappy childhood and when people only see you for what you have and not for what you are. The first and only person who was not kissing my ass because she wanted something from me, but told me off when I made a fool of myself was Pepper. And believe me, sometimes I just pushed even harder to see what would make her leave me. She was still there after ten years, and she is the reason I stayed sane in that cave in Afghanistan, and if not for her I might have ended up as a suicidal wreck. It took me more than ten years and almost dying to realize that I had something worth living for."

"Why are you telling me this, Stark?"

"You, my friend, betrayed the entity controlling you, went behind the backs of the bad guys who might as well have killed you, to save my planet, and by extension the one thing I cannot live without. Let me be grateful, Bambi. We had a rough start, but I think we'd get along quite well… and Pepper likes you, and that's actually the only seal of quality you need around me."

"I… I do not know what to answer to that", Loki said, scratching his head, and the inventor laughed.

"How about we get upstairs, tell Pep and Thor about my recent idea to send Thor home alone with the cube and the scepter to first test the waters in Never-Never-Land, before you go to your Asgardian Libraries… I still wanna see those, though…"

Loki snorted… was it possible that the mortal had upset his woman just because he was truly and ultimately curious about Asgard?

"Oh… and J, turn up the ventilation up there and order me some Pasta… and maybe some nose plugs…"

The engineer had marched towards the exit of his workshop, babbling away, while Loki's gaze followed him, head shaking.

Grateful? Since when was anyone ever grateful for one of his schemes?


	6. Ice flowers, thriving

_**Chapter 6: Ice Flowers, thriving**_

 _Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful. (John Wooden)_

* * *

Tony was having fun right now. Loki was not so sure about himself. Sometimes, even Thor could reveal a silver tongue, otherwise Loki would not be standing there, sans his sling, right next to Stark, who was smirking like an idiot and the Demigod had to put on the same facial expression, to match the man he was disguised as.

Obviously, he and the engineer had more in common than both of them thought, their mutual dislike of Indian food only prompting Thor to annoy Loki since when he was so picky.

Tony had shared his pasta with him, and Pepper had smiled when the inventor threw his arm around the Demigod, telling him a "Don't listen to them, Bambi. Not everybody has had their capsaicin receptors removed from their mouths, we're just special. J, up the ventilation, will you?"

Even though he did not know what capsaicin receptors were, Loki smiled and sat down next to Stark, while J.A.R.V.I.S. replied.

" _There will be a tornado inside the dining room if I up the ventilation any more, Sir."_

This little episode had prompted Thor to tell about some of their adventures, and how Loki had offered to cook after some rather… special… roast one of the Warriors Three had prepared. Volstagg may like eating. He had no clue of cooking, though.

And only now Thor remembered that Loki always told them to flavor what he cooked to their gusto, while he did not even add salt.

"We maltreated your taste buds a lot during our adventures, didn't we? Why did you never say something?"

Loki sighed. "I did. Once. Sif called me a baby after that, and Fandral had some very creative insults afterwards. I made sure that his food was as spicy as it could be for quite some time until also he voted against Volstagg's cooking."

"Oh, I remember this… even bread was too spicy for him. I should have known it was you right from the beginning." Thor laughed. And laughed a bit more. And started crying with laughter, having the three other people in the room sending him confused looks.

"Lo-Loki also spiced up his beer one night. Fandral was crying because he was sure he would never get drunk again, and turned to water. And then Loki also spiced up the water."

Tony was joining Thor's laughter, and also Lady Pepper wore an amused grin, making Loki offer a tiny smile.

"He was drinking milk for the rest of the week, and I only did not tamper with that because he actually does not like milk."

"Aye, because he becomes incredibly gassy… You did us no favor with that, brother", Thor replied, and Loki was scratching his head. "Yes, that was not one of my best ideas. Especially after you made me share the tent with him after you finally found out that my magic was causing him all this trouble. I slept under the stars until we were back on Asgard."

"Wait, there's also lactose-intolerant people on Asgard?" Tony was coughing by now from laughing so hard. Oh, the fun you could have with a mage. Pepper reached out to pat his back until his breathing was back to normal.

"Don't even think about dragging Loki into that sort of pranks. Most of the people in this tower you _could_ prank are able to kill you, and in the last two days you did not do anything to make it into their good graces."

"I'm just thinking of how much fun we could have had. Rhodey was always _Tony, do your homework, Tony, you have to eat, Tony, you are too young for that party that everyone else is attending_. Lokes could have magicked me older, or done that _there's five of me, now_ , to annoy people… actually, I had a teacher who told me he was glad there was only one of me, because dealing with my… how did he put it… know-it-all attitude was just exhausting and I'd ruin my father before I was coming of age with pretending to have any clue of anything more than building a machine."

"Didn't you build DUM-E in college? He's definitely more than just a machine…" Pepper was frowning now. Every time she thought she finally knew it all, she finally had every puzzle piece that made the man in front of her and all his insecurities, he dug out something like that.

"Yeah, and now imagine five of me instead of one of me rubbing that in. He tried withholding my graduation after that, and actually that was the first and only time Howard did not write a check but showed up, and packed up DUM-E, me, and my diploma, and actually was pissed at my school and not at me…"

"With there being five of you, this Howard person most likely would not have taken your side, Star… err, T-Tony", the Trickster said, having Tony fold his hands behind his neck, stretching his upper body.

"Believe me, I did not even think he would come for me alone, no matter if taking my side or not. But sometimes even my father managed to surprise me. But you could've pulled that off, right? Five of me?"

Loki briefly thought about that. That Howard person was the engineer's father, yet he talked about him like he was some distant and not very well liked acquaintance.

"Oh, his illusions of other people tend to become translucent after some time… he could have shifted, though, taken your appearance, if two of you would be enough…"

Thor never knew how to keep his blabbermouth shut.

And so now Lady Pepper was standing there with her head tilted to the side. "I think we should take a picture and send it to Director Fury. I guess that might finally blow that aneurysm he claims not to have."

Both Tony and Loki-Tony laughed at that.

"I told you, Lady Pepper, that my brother is the most talented mage I have ever seen. You could not tell a difference, could you?" Thor was highly amused. He had nagged Loki long enough to show their hosts what he was capable of when he was not trying to take over their planet. And when he finally agreed, he had made both of them turn around, and then guess who was the real, and who was the fake Tony. The real Tony was grinning like a mad man at the same time, totally into that game.

Pepper just smiled. "Oh, I will always know my Tony."

Thor just scratched his head. He did not know which one was the real Man of Iron. As long as none of them was talking, revealing Stark's rather lose gab, he also was sure he would not find out. Loki had always been perceptive, and he was good at imitating people.

The woman just directly walked up to them, and Loki did his best to not grin when she was approaching him. So much for…

Her hand came to rest on his chest, the diamond on her ring sparkling in the dim lights, her eyes fixed on his momentary brown gaze.

"You are Loki", she said, and the man next to him started drumming his fingers against the same spot on his chest where her fingers were touching on the Demigod, the smile having faded from his features.

Loki just smiled at Pepper and shifted back, trying not to worry too much about what had the engineer lose his good mood.

Taking her hand in his he blew a kiss on her fingers, completed with a perfect bow.

"No matter what it is, you are more observant than most of my former companions, Lady Pepper."

Stark sighed.

"It wasn't that hard for her, Lokes. Sooo. What are we having for dessert? "

* * *

Thor had decided he would leave after Dinner; it did not make any sense to postpone his departure any longer. The sooner he pleaded Loki's case in Asgard, the sooner all of them could be sure that the younger Demigod still had his head when Thanos chose to make an appearance.

So he had taken the Tesseract and the scepter, both packed nicely in some portable device Stark had fabricated some time along being back in this tower, had bidden his farewell and promised to come back as soon as possible, doing his best to bear good news for all of them.

Stark was scratching his head, still watching the empty spot on his balcony, where only milliseconds ago the God of Thunder had been standing. Loki was wondering when in the past two days the glass walls had been re-installed… Thor and he had broken almost all of them.

"Are you still mad at me?" Tony asked into nowhere, and Loki frowned. Why should he…

"I… I'm worried, not mad. You remember when you were preparing for the press conference where you decided to tell the entire frickin' planet that you were Iron Man? The speech about the girlfriend who would be worrying herself crazy?" Pepper walked up to Stark, her hand sneaking around his arm. Stark tugged her closer.

"You turned me down that day."

"Well, to be honest, I did not think that you really meant it back then… for someone who is not subtle about anything you were pretty subtle about having the hots for me… I am worried, Tony. Because, somehow, every time you rush to help someone, you end up almost dead. No offense, Loki."

The Demigod shrugged and was pleased to find out that he could move his shoulder again without pain searing through his entire back. "None taken. Every time I try to help, other people get almost killed…"

Stepping up to the couple, Loki viewed the town to his feet. In the darkness he could see the colored lights of the trucks on the road still busy with the cleaning efforts. They were having problems with the removal of the dead Leviathans, yet, humans appeared to be rather inventive, using erection cranes on surrounding buildings to lift the animals, and somehow cutting them into pieces.

He was wondering what they would be doing with them.

Pepper was leaning her head on Tony's shoulder. "You know, even though according to you I own only 12% of all this, the view was totally worth it."

Tony sighed. "It was a joke Pep. I'd give you 150% of everything I own if it would make you happy."

"I already have your company and your ass, I think that's enough", she laughed, totally intending the order of how she had mentioned his assets.

Tony laughed, too. "Oh, baby, you're such a gold-digger. That's all they ever want from me, Lokes. My money and my good looks."

Loki smiled. "Are you always like this? One jest following the other? Are all humans like that?"

It was Pepper who answered.

"Many of us are. Life's short, why spend it in grief? We're lucky here on this part of the planet, there are other countries that are not, civil wars, cataclysms, religious wars. Humans are stupid for most of the time."

"Hey, only speak for yourself there", Tony mocked, drawing Pepper closer as she talked to the Demigod.

Loki was quiet for a while, watching the skyline of New York. If you ignored the cleaning efforts around the tower, it was a beautiful sight.

"You chose a very nice place for this building. And I do not mean for an invasion", he silently added as Stark opened his mouth. The engineer scratched his head after that.

"Yeah… we were kinda lucky that some terrorists crashed some planes into both towers standing here before, otherwise finding a place would have been a bitch…"

"Tony! More than 2500 people died here that day", Pepper exclaimed, swatting his arm. Loki just echoed the number.

"How many lives I might have caused to end in the past days…" he whispered, his gaze falling down to the road again.

"To be honest, most of the people that died where killed by Barton or buried in the base that crumbled down. There were not that many casualties in New York, a few heart attacks and one of the whale thingies crashed a few cars. The only one you…" Tony started, having Loki look at him.

"His name was Phil…" the Demigod said, seeing Pepper's face fall.

"Phil is dead?! As in Agent Coulson? How come you did not tell me…? Phil?" Big eyes were looking at Tony, and then turning to Loki.

"Phil?" she echoed, her eyes filling with tears.

Tony lowered his head. Yes. He somehow had suppressed thinking about the one man that had trusted in them managing to save their planet. Come on, not even Fury thought they would succeed.

"I… was aiming for non-vital organs, but obviously I… missed…" Hanging his head, the Trickster asked himself how he could have asked something like that aloud. These two mortals had been on his side, something that happened rarely enough, and he had nothing better to do than remind them why they should rather be happy if he disappeared to Asgard.

"Well, it was Fury who _told_ us that he was dead. I would not put my hand in the fire for S.H.I.E.L.D., though. Most probably they're just hiding him somewhere… J, anything mentioned about the whereabouts of agent Coulson in the S.H.I.E.L.D. databases?"

J.A.R.V.I.S. took some time before answering, obviously they had not thought about looking for something like that, but rather had been interested in finding out all about the company's plans with the Tesseract.

" _There are no reported transportations of corpses from the Helicarrier. Casualties, one of them very serious, the man was ordered to be transported to a guest house, orders are GH235 and T.A.H.I.T.I.. Do you want me to find out what these orders contain in detail, Sir?"_

"Yeah. I don't trust S.H.I.E.L.D.. I would be totally like them to let Coulson vanish, blame Loki for murdering him, while he's happily shagging his Cellist in… Boston?"

"Portland", Pepper supplied with her eyes still on Loki. "You stabbed him?"

"He… was in my way… and persistent… and it made me very angry." His normal self would have laughed at the agent, waved at him and vanished into nothing, the weapon he was aiming at him nothing but an empty threat.

"You…"

"Peps, please, can't we just not talk about the things Loki did while being mind-controlled? From what I've seen so far, his normal self most probably would have flipped him the bird and vanished… actually, I think he never would have gotten into that situation. Let's get inside, huh, it's getting a bit chilly."

Just as Tony turned towards the balcony door, dragging a deep in thoughts Pepper with him, J.A.R.V.I.S. addressed them again.

" _Sir, S.H.I.E.L.D. has just updated your involvement with the agency."_

"To what? I've only been a consultant before this mess, they never wanted me as an Avenger, and I declared I'd be nothing more than a consultant now."

" _Civilian, Sir. They have furthermore requested material to repair the helicarrier and demand the blueprints. Colonel Rhodes has been asked to join the Avengers Initiative and has accepted. He is currently approaching the tower, ETA in three minutes."_

Tony snorted. Civilian. So, once more, he was not good enough. His hand fisted as he marched towards his Penthouse, wishing that he had left the tower for California, just as he had planned the day before. Maybe this would have spared him the confrontation with Rhodey and the bitter sting of feeling rejected.

"That's pretty close, J. Make sure the surveillance radius around the tower is enlarged, I want to be informed about everything that might be a threat early enough. Ready a suit, just in case."

" _Will do, Sir."_

"And include Loki in _Protocol Guardian._ "

J.A.R.V.I.S. announced a confused " _Sir?"_ at the same time that Loki sent him a surprised glance. Said protocol made the computer aim weapons at every threat to his creator and the woman in his life, as he had understood. Why…?

"What do you think who Rhodey is coming for, J.A.R.V.I.S.? We do not want Loki in the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D.. We want him here, save and sound and able to figure out what's so special about this Thanos guy. And you know that very well."

J.A.R.V.I.S. appeared to be thinking about that, and Loki felt as if every camera close by was directed at him.

" _That would mean excluding Colonel Rhodes, Sir",_ the voice from the ceiling said then.

Tony said nothing, his eyes focused on his shoes now.

"Tony, James is your friend", Pepper said silently.

"The last time he was my friend he closed his arms around me after finding me in the desert in Afghanistan. From then on he…" Tony swallowed hard.

"Exclude him, J. This is more important."

" _As you wish, Sir. I suggest stepping inside before the Iron Patriot arrives."_

Tony looked at both Pepper and Loki.

"Go. I'll try to talk to him. And J, the suit's name is still War Machine."

* * *

James Rhodes purposefully missed the disassembling platform attached to the Penthouse and landed on the balcony. The risk was too high that Tony had ordered J.A.R.V.I.S. to take away the suit from him after whatever had made him go nuts and save the Demigod who had just failed invading Earth.

Of course, Tony was standing right there, hands in the pockets of his jeans, effectively blocking every other entrance he could have taken into the Penthouse without using violence. He could see Pepper and Loki inside, throwing looks at them, the God directing his gaze away as the glowing blue eyes of the suit were directed at him, Pepper reaching out to touch his arm as she sat down next to the villain, her eyes scorching at the man in the suit.

"Hey, Rhodes, sup?" Tony snarled, his head slightly cocked, just looking as always.

"Step out of the way, Tony. Loki will go into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. And then we will figure out what is wrong with you."

"Yeah. Of course there is something wrong with me. There couldn't be possibly something wrong with S.H.I.E.L.D., right?"

James Rhodes looked at the man in front of him. He knew him for how long, now? It was almost 25 years, when he had to take care of this lonely kid who outsmarted everyone and seemed oblivious to the jealousy that surrounded him, grateful about every bit of attention he could get out of others, and be it by just being obnoxious and an outright pain in the ass.

Howard had paid him well, that was why he did not throw the kid out of his dorm room whenever he got on his nerves. Later on, being able to tell he was friends with Tony Stark had helped a lot, also climbing the career ladder at the military.

He had felt… devastated… when Tony was kidnapped in Afghanistan, after all, the man was taking good care of him, Tony Stark was a generous friend. Sports cars for Christmas, expensive watches for birthdays, holidays in Vegas and hookers on Tony's bank account. And it didn't actually shed a good light on you if you lost America's biggest Weapon Manufacturer to the enemy.

He had been relieved when they found him, life was easier, at least career-wise when you had Tony Stark around. He could not deal with the aftermath, though, he did not want to deal with a traumatized person. That's what Tony had Pepper for, and she had to practically beg him to drive to his house after Stane had tried to off him again.

And once again Stark had managed to do something to make the world jealous – and, as usual, refused to share the good stuff. That guy always managed to get away with his bullshit, and in the end, he even got the girl.

Rhodes did not open the helmet when he addressed him again.

"Step out of the way, Stark."

The riffle on his shoulder came to life.

"Yeah, about that, Rhodes, bad idea, seriously." Tony still did not move, but now the door behind him opened and Pepper rushed out. Followed by the Demigod.

"Rhodey, are you out of your mind?!"

Tony turned, looking incredulously at his fiancée.

"You go inside again this instant, Pepper!"

"I will not watch this lame excuse of a friend aiming Hammer Tech weapons at my fiancée!" the redhead exclaimed while secretly wishing for one of Tony's suits to appear and intervene.

"Go inside! Loki, take her inside!"

The Demigod indeed had jumped up the second the woman had to keep her out of the argument between two men outside and now moved to reach out for her.

Rhodes lifted his arm and marked the God, revealing the more offensive weaponry his suit had to provide.

"You are going nowhere. Loki of Asgard, you will surrender yourself to S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, you will face justice for your deeds against our planet!"

Tony again moved himself in the way, the AI of the suit immediately reacting to the civilian, and, more specifically, its creator, after all, its main protocol still contained keeping Tony Stark safe. Rhodes actually had to force himself to keep his arm up.

"Tony!"

"I will go through you, if necessary, Stark. This is bigger than you!" Rhodes addressed the man in front of him. Of course, he would not kill him. If he came to his senses again, he would see that all of this had been in his benefit. After all, S.H.I.E.L.D. still needed his expertise and, to be honest, also the money. The US Government had immediately ceased funding them after finding out about Phase 2.

A single bullet, maybe to the shoulder… the AI hesitantly but effectively started searching for non-lethal positions on the civilian in front of them so they could take him out and go for the main threat.

Then, suddenly, everything in War Machine locked down as J.A.R.V.I.S. took over. The machine gun fell back in place and looked pretty harmless. All other weaponized slots closed again. Rhodes could not even move a finger.

" _Mr. Rhodes, you will refrain immediately from threatening Mr. Laufeyson, Miss Potts and Sir. Otherwise, I will initiate countermeasures."_

As if on cue, MARK VII started assembling on the ramp and took off once it was complete, landing right next to Tony.

"Ya wanna go for a round or two, Rhodey? Just like the last time? Just without me being drunk and, well, dying?"

Pepper let out a strangled noise as she shuffled closer to Loki, her hand reaching out as clumsily as he was reaching out for her. Okay, this _had_ been a stupid idea, but what were you supposed to do when an armored suit named WAR MACHINE was aiming at the love of your life?

On the ramp, MARK VI assembled.

"Make your stupid computer unlock my suit and we'll see", the slightly metallic voice of Rhodes answered. He had always thought J.A.R.V.I.S. was scary. And it was even scarier how Tony depended on the AI, and how he unconditionally trusted it.

"Your suit? This is _my_ fucking suit. I let you keep it, because I thought I would not be there any longer, and then I somehow just forgot to demand it back. I suggested you for the Avengers because I thought you were better suited than me. We discussed this entire fucking ordeal with the entire fucking planet, and you come here and demand to hand over the one person who knows more about the guy trying to take over Earth and was actually _helping_ us the entire time, after he was more or less fricking pardoned by the _entire fucking planet_! I thought you were smarter, Rhodey, and at least knew me well enough to see me trying to do the right thing, and not just sticking around because I bought you nice cars and jewelry."

Rhodes did not answer to that right away. MARK VI landed right next to Tony, now effectively shielding both the Demigod and Pepper from War Machine. The ramp whirled to life again, assembling MARK V, which was a bit trickier because of the suitcase form. Still, J.A.R.V.I.S. had helped designing the suit, it was a piece of cake for him.

"As if she is sticking around because she loves you. Fiancée, huh? Finally reached your goal, Potts?" Yes, he was lashing out, and Pepper's eyes narrowed at him angrily in an instant. The moment Tony had hired her, Rhodes had feared the moment the man would realize that this woman was his jackpot. Thank God he was so busy screwing around, hitting on everything that had legs and boobs.

Tony's voice was cold when he addressed him again.

"Okay, Rhodes, I will let you know what will happen now. Either, you decide to go back to S.H.I.E.L.D. and let me figure out what Thanos is planning. This includes my offer of consulting and funding whatever needs to be done to make this world a better place. Or, you decide to go for what they ordered you to come for. This will mean J.A.R.V.I.S. will confiscate War Machine, and whatever you will try to do without the suit will just end in J.A.R.V.I.S. steering _four_ suits against _you_ , protecting me, _my fiancée_ , and my guest, and then I will end S.H.I.E.L.D."

* * *

Of course he chose the first option. He actually had not counted on Tony going to such extreme measures to save the God. Okay, and maybe insulting Pepper had been stupid. He also could not find any trace of the Tesseract and the Scepter in the Tower, now that he had been close enough to the Penthouse, to the place where S.H.I.E.L.D. supposed Stark was keeping both items.

Rhodes had taken off grouching. At least, still having the suit and laying down for a while was better than losing the suit and have an out-of-his-mind Tony Stark trying to take over the world.

Tony ordered J.A.R.V.I.S. to disassemble the suits again once Rhodes was out of sight. Then he marched back into the tower, passing Loki and Pepper who were still clutching one another.

Pepper's gaze followed him as he walked towards the bar, grabbing one of the bottles. Loki's head turned into the same direction, remembering immediately how Stark's last trip to the bar had ended in a severe panic attack.

Letting go of each other both rushed inside.

"Tony… Tony, are you…"

The bottle forcefully crashed against the wall behind the bar, making Pepper flinch. Tony swirled around, dark eyes furiously locking on the woman before him.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" he yelled.

"I… He was aiming at you…"

Tony's hand fisted around another bottle.

"Yeah. And I knew J.A.R.V.I.S. could take over War Machine whenever it was getting too dangerous. That still does not mean I want to have MY WIFE RUN INTO A LITERAL WAR ZONE!"

He got so loud that his voice was cracking.

Pepper just stared at him, her arms crossed before her chest. Stark's hand fisted with the urge to throw another 2000 Dollars against the wall

"I didn't think, okay? He was aiming at you. What am I supposed to do when your supposedly best friend is aiming a Hammer Tech machine gun at you? Hope that it's crap like all the other stuff they produce?"

Tony sighed, his shoulders slumping.

"Don't do something like that ever again. I wanna die of old age and not because of a heart attack because my wife decided facing down War Machine with nothing but an Armani suit and Manolo Blahniks was a good idea…"

"Those are Jimmy Choos", Pepper answered. Then her eyes went wide. "You just called me your wife… twice…"

Scratching his head the engineer threw a quick look at the frowning Demigod who was still busy digesting what had just happened. It was getting ridiculous, Stark somehow always putting himself in the line of fire for the man who had tried to conquer his planet.

And then these short tempered non-sequitur arguments all the time. They were yelling at each other at the one second, going to a normal conversation or loving teasing at the next, without any clue about reconciliation in between.

"I did, didn't I? Well, that's what you're gonna be once we did the formal stuff, so might as well get used to it."

"You do know that a wedding needs planning, right?"

"If you want a big thing, then yes. But, for heaven's sake, hire a wedding planner, you're already running my company and my life, there's no need to add a third full time job." Running a hand over his face the inventor finally stepped up to his woman, taking her in his arms. She still kept her arms crossed, scrutinizing his face.

"If _I_ want a big wedding?"

Loki rolled his eyes and marched over to the couch, flopping down on it and reaching out for his forgotten beverage on the coffee table. How come they always had conversations like these when he did not really have the chance to flee? Okay, so he could have teleported away, but they also could look for more private surroundings.

"Well, I don't have anyone to invite. I could do with you, me, and a Justice of the Peace. And maybe DUM-E, and U and J.A.R.V.I.S.."

Pepper did not say anything for quite some time, but her arms unfolded, her hands coming to rest on his shoulders, her forehead touching his.

"I'm not a gold-digger, Tony. You really don't…"

"Oh, for fuck's sake. If you were a gold-digger you could have had me already 12 years ago. I'm saying let's get the license and get married. I guess you know where my birth certificate is, right?"

Pepper chuckled at this, slightly shaking her head and feeling his head move with hers.

"No trip to Vegas? Having Elvis doing the ceremony? I remember you talking about that…"

"Yeah, I was horrifying away my one-night-stand of the day with that. You get your dream wedding, as I said, I'm okay with a big thing, but…"

"You, me, and a Justice of the Peace. This sounds perfect to me… you're not going to your workshop and tinker away the entire night now, are you?" Her head did never move… oh, how he sometimes relished the fact that they were the same height. And seeing her never ending legs in those Manolo Blahniks or Jimmy Choos always made him forget that he was smaller than her when she was wearing them…

"I actually wanted to suggest a movie night, calm down a bit and show Loki that us humans are not just defiant and obnoxious, but also incredibly creative…"

"I'm not in the mood for Star Trek now, Tony…"

"I didn't…"

"You always suggest Star Trek, and you always want to watch all of the movies in the right order, and I know I cannot stand William Shatner sucking in his belly for one and a half hours today…"

"We could watch the re-launch."

"Yes, and then you are complaining about me stating that Spock is hot."

"Because he's not."

"He totally is. Let's watch Wall-E."

"Do you want to make me cry?"

From his place on the couch the Demigod watched the scene with a smile on his face. Friendly word-matches, the banter of two lovers, it could make one forget that a trial and his probable execution were awaiting him.

His fingers and jaw clenched at this thought. There must be a way to circumvent these rather less than delightful consequences… but he also knew he could not count on Odin's mercy.

He never could.


	7. Born again, from Mother's hand

**_Chapter 7: Born again, from Mother's hand_**

 _Sometimes, quiet people really do have a lot to say, they're just being careful about who they open up to. (Susan Gale)_

* * *

Queen Frigga of Asgard was restless. Before she had spotted Loki in between the realms, she had been grieving. Now, her feelings were ambivalent. She loved both of her children, and just as Thor had always been Odin's favorite for very obvious reasons, her little boy always held a very large part of her heart.

Thor always had been easy. Already as a child he had been self-confident and blunt. Easy to love and easy to please.

Loki never was. And over the years, over decades, centuries, he had grown cautious and suspicious when it came to the affection other people showed him, and unfortunately, this did not exactly exclude his mother. Unconditional was something that did not come with Loki. Not anymore.

Straightforward was also something that did not come with Loki. She had seen the tension grow between the brothers as Thor grew to become the loud, self-confident God he was, making Odin's face beam with pride and turning a blind eye (hah, pun intended…) on all his shortcomings. Loki had done everything to please his father as well, and it was just never good enough. Yes, he had let the Jotun king into the bedroom of Asgard's king. The very same bedroom he was waiting in to save Odin's live while killing his own father. Jotunheim would be in turmoil for a long time after her boy had tried (and almost succeeded) to wipe out the planet.

Yet… negotiation and good will might actually work to better the relationships between both realms now that _one_ tyrant was gone and the other was weary of age.

Odin had had a hard stand with her after Loki had fallen… had let go to… after he disappeared in the Void. She was blaming her husband, and she was scolding herself for keeping his true heritage and raising her son to loath his very own being. They should have known better. Things like these never stayed a secret. And there was never something good that came out of it.

Loki always had been self-conscious, mostly because the things he was good at were berated, were frowned upon, were looked down upon. He was a very skilled warrior, yet, he always used his intelligence first, looking at consequences and also not ruling out bargaining and negotiating by default.

Her son had been one of the smart people. And Odin had managed to slowly destroy his faith in himself until he ended up plotting against his own people, and when he failed he chose his death over another confrontation with his father which would have ended with far worse consequences than what Thor had to face for starting a war.

Seeing him there, tiny glimpses at how he prepared to take over Midgard made her worry for his sanity. What had the Void done to him? Why was Thor taking so long to stop him?

She was worried because the Thunderer took longer than it was estimated for retrieving his brother, and when he finally came back, he did come alone, bearing some crate with the Tesseract and a scepter, demanding to speak to the king.

She had to inform him then about the toll that sending Thor to Midgard had taken on Odin, making him fall into Odinsleep almost immediately after the Thundergod was gone, and she did not like the expression that made it to his features upon this information, stating that this might actually be the best news if his father had chosen to leave _him_ with the chores of the Throne.

"I have found Loki, Mother. Do not worry, he is well – as well as he can be. He never tried to conquer Midgard, he was actually trying to protect it and succeeded. We are facing a bigger threat now, though, and we need to carefully evaluate what needs to be done next."

Thor had never been a planning or plotting being before, always relying on Loki's experience there, and most of the time still relying on brute force while ignoring some elegant plan the younger God had come up with. His visit to Midgard, his exile, being human, it had humbled him. The loss of his brother had deeply saddened him. What had finding Loki done to him? Why did he come home alone? Why did he not bring Loki to face justice for all his evil deeds?

She asked him exactly this and was astonished when he interrupted her harshly. His entire face displayed his disappointment when he scrutinized her.

"Also you, Mother? Not even you will give him the benefit of the doubt anymore."

Frigga sighed.

"Thor. How many times has he lied to you? How many times have you fallen for his schemes?"

The disappointment never left his features as the Thundergod straightened his form, clutching the crate a little harder.

"The Man of Iron and Lady Pepper were right with their assumption of entire Asgard being prejudiced and thinking that Loki lies by default. They were right about sending me here alone to plead his case. He would have faced his immediate execution were Odin awake."

His blue eyes were piercing holes into her soul, making her eyes go wide when she thought about what Thor just had said. No… no, Odin would not have been so cruel, he had brought this tiny baby home all those centuries ago and raised him as his son, and then somehow lost the focus on the purpose why he had brought Loki…

"Thor…"

He waved her off, shifting the crate to his other hand. "There were no schemes! All he ever did was trying to help Asgard, trying to do what might benefit the most. And all we ever did…", he interrupted himself. What had he just said?

"I will take care of the scepter and then retire to my chambers. Good night, Mother." Sending her another weary glance, he turned around. He would still need the Tesseract to travel between the realms, but first of all, he would store away the scepter in the deepest locker as Lady Pepper had put it.

He had never taken the time to think about how Loki had been treated in the past centuries. Not even when he saw his own brother break, his last bit of hope for his father to acknowledge him fading into nothing, choosing death rather than staying a second longer amongst all these people who were despising him.

He had been grieving. He missed his brother, his baby brother who had always been so collected and smart and stood by his side even if he was not convinced that what Thor was doing was actually the best thing to do. He missed his brother, yet he had never really thought about what had changed him, never thought about his role in all of this, and when he finally started contemplating all, it made him sick to the bone.

The Man of Iron had seen that something was off even though Loki attempted to kill him, and he had stepped in to save his brother's life for the greater good, putting possible animosities aside instead of dwelling on them. He and Lady Pepper had taken in his brother, welcomed him and talked to him rather than springing into action right away, which always had been Thor's preferred method.

He had ended up ridiculing and belittling one of the most important persons in his life, who stood loyal by his side for so long, even though he did not deserve it, and decided to step in when Odin was about to make the biggest mistake in his life, choosing to use Thor's shortcomings against him.

He was ultimately disgusted with himself, because when he really thought about it, he had never chosen Loki's side in the past. Loki very rarely outright lied. He twisted the truth to his favor in every way that might fit his needs. When was it that he had lost this mischievous spark in his eyes that had always made Thor wonder what the Trickster was up to now, and if he should rather guard his back or stand right next to him, laughing about whatever was to befall the Warrior's Three or Sif.

He never had taken his side when it really mattered, when his father decided that his younger brother needed to be punished. Thinking back to his role in what Odin had done to Loki's family…

He had to stop and was actually gripping the wall next to him as his head started spinning. How could his brother not hate him? How could you not hate the man who…? How could he ever follow his father's orders to wipe out innocence just because of a prophecy?

With a strangled noise he fell to his knees, sobbing as tears ran down his face.

It was about time now, time to question his father instead of blindly following all of his orders because Odin All-father knew best.

Because in retrospect all he did was torturing his second son.

* * *

They had settled for a kids' movie in the end, because Pepper declared everything that Tony suggested as mindless action-splatter movies that she so did not want to watch after a real-life alien invasion.

Tony had mocked her suggestions as chick flicks or even soft-porn and ended up suggesting _Independence Day_ , and oh… they also had wiped out the alien mothership with a nuke, hopefully nobody would blame him of plagiarism…

Loki just watched the playful banter in awe, memories of a long forgotten time coming back to when he had something similar, before his father had decided that the results of the love he had found were a threat to his life…

"Hey, Lokes? You still there?"

Looking up, the Demigod was caught in this warm brown gaze again.

"I… I am sorry, I was in thoughts."

"Yeah, definitely looked like that. Anyway, Pep and I finally agreed on a movie that won't scar your feeble soul, and I was asking if you want your popcorn with salt or with caramel."

Loki echoed the word popcorn with a frown and actually jerked when the engineer jumped up.

"Oh my God, Pepper, we got us a popcorn virgin! Dig out the good stuff!"

Loki was utterly astonished that after living close to two millennia there was still virginity to be found on him. Thank the Norns that Star… Tony obviously could not stand silence and just kept on talking, explaining how exactly popcorn was made, and that you should rather not attempt to try making it with a Bunsen burner, because this adventure had almost burned down his dorm at the MIT (whatever that was…).

15 minutes later the coffee table was laden with different sweet and salty treats and Pepper had decided to definitely take Loki on a trip to her favorite Sushi restaurant after Tony had started counting all his favorite food groups (place one till five were occupied by cheese burger) and Loki admitted that he liked fish, however it was served very rarely on Asgard, after all you did not really have to hunt it.

"Boy, they never saw _Deadliest catch_ , huh?" was all Tony had to add to that before starting the movie.

 _The Jungle Book_ was a movie that consisted out of animated pictures that still had been drawn by hand at the time when that movie came out. Tony started elaborating on the technique and how it came that it looked like the drawn figures were moving as Loki frowned at the TV.

Pepper shushed him by stuffing a handful of popcorn into his mouth and snuggled closer to the engineer's side, her legs drawn up on the couch, her head resting against his shoulder.

The Trickster tried the unknown food tentatively, at first. To be honest, the day before he had been hungry enough to eat beyond everything – and he was very grateful that the people giving him shelter were kind enough to actually ask what he liked.

He preferred the popcorn with caramel until Tony mouthed a "Try both sorts simultaneously", around his mouthful, so he did that while watching the family of wolves take in the tiny human baby.

"Oh…!" The surprised sound escaped his mouth before he could do anything against it. Who would have thought…?

Tony just grinned. "Wait until I introduce you to the wonders of strawberry yoghurt and potato chips…"

Pepper snorted. "You know, the way you are combining food could make one think that _you_ are pregnant…" She was already halfway through her sentence when she realized what she was just saying and managed to not emphasize the _you_ too much.

Tony coughed on the piece of popcorn he had just inhaled and disguised it as a laugh. "Yeah, no womb, here, I am allowed to eat weird stuff just because I feel like it", he grinned before reaching out for the chips and the gummy bears, stuffing both into his mouth.

"Ugh, Tony!"

"Hush, wife, watching a movie here…"

Loki soon was consumed by the movie, forgetting about his popcorn as he suffered along with Mowgli's mother who had to let him go to be save from the man-eating tiger, whatever a tiger was… he liked the gracious black animal and learned from one of the inventor's inevitable explanations in between that it was a black panther, that those were cats, what, you don't have cats on Asgard? And a tiger also was a cat, so…

The panther acted like a mother, and calmly dealt with the stubborn kid that got himself into unnecessarily dangerous situations.

The snake… the snake had him swallowing hard and his head snapped up as Tony said "You're not Kaa, Bambi." The engineer did not even look away from the screen, the bowl with the salty popcorn resting in his lap, and Pepper curled against his side with his arm around her waist, his fingers painting circles on her lower stomach.

Before Loki could answer that he was far from being anything like this innocent child, the engineer directed his gaze at the woman next to him.

"Can we watch _Bambi_ afterwards?"

"I'm still opting for Wall-E. It always makes me cry when they kill Bambi's Mom."

"Yeah, and I am crying when they crush Wall-E. How's that better?"

"Because Wall-E survives and Bambi's Mom doesn't?!"

"God, Peps, you are such a spoiler, now Loki knows how both movies end!"

Loki found himself smiling at their banter, and was laughing silently as the engineer started singing along with the bear that more or less adopted the child, revealing a rather beautiful singing voice.

When was the last time he had leisure time like this? Doing mindless things like these? Not thinking about what others might think about him? It was so exhausting always bearing in mind others' reactions to whatever he might be doing…

"Hey, Lokes, you are super far away again. You sure you'd not rather go and sleep?"

Said the man who had spent a good part of the last night preparing the presentation how Loki tried not to conquer Earth, had had to see his doctor because of the aftermath of his fall from the portal and had suffered a severe panic attack. Not to forget facing down the suit named War Machine (and personally, he liked the name Iron Man better… it was more iconic, and not so forecasting as the impeding description of… war…), and losing a friend.

"I am fine… facing the uncertainty until Thor returns will not help finding a restful sleep anyway", he said, focusing on the TV again. He had missed how Mowgli encountered the monkeys, but he loathed their king, and seriously, the bear was not really the smartest of all animals.

Oddly enough, he felt sorry for the tiger in the end. He was supposed to be the bad guy, obviously, still…

What had happened that made him hate humans with all his being?

"You should read the book, Lokes… Shir Khan was born crippled and is hunting cattle because they're stupid and easy… in the end they stampede the poor kitty to death because someone said he was still plotting to kill Mowgli, and somehow everybody just wants his skin…"

"You know, only you could see Shir Khan as the victim in all of that…", Pepper said while hiding a yawn.

"Well, he's smart, and he made the best he could out of his life, after even his mother ridiculed him. It's not his fault that there were stupid humans stumbling around in his jungle. They knew there were predators in there. It's not his fault that the wolf pack had a crappy leader and was following him to kill Mowgli and then decided to turn their back on him again… he should have not trusted them."

"I still cannot believe you actually read _The Jungle Book."_

"We had a first edition in Howard's library… and most of the other books in there were about chemistry or politics and just super boring for a four year old. I loved _Rikki Tikki Tavi…"_

"You were four when you read _The Jungle Book._ The entire thing", Pepper deadpanned now.

"Yeah. Mom had to calm me down because I was crying for the poor kitty in the end…"

Kids movies. Loki wondered whether all children on Midgard put as much thought into this kind of things as Tony had when being a child. Pepper had told him it had been her first movie on a big screen in a cinema, and she never ceased loving it, however, she was on the side of the child…

Tony did not say anything about his first childhood movie, and from what he had learned in the past two days, Loki supposed that he simply had none, because his neglectful parents never cared about taking him to a cinema.

"When I was four I was still drawing the r and the g in my name the wrong way round and playing in the mud, and my genius soon-to-be-husband read a novel from a Nobel prize winner."

"Your genius husband would have loved playing in the mud, but his mother and the butler were too afraid that he might get dirty or kidnapped…"

Pepper just smiled, resting her head in the crook of his neck. "Yeah… sometimes growing up on a godforsaken farm in Nebraska is not that bad, huh, Honey?"

"Believe me, everything is better than growing up with Howard and Maria Stark." Tony didn't say more, just pulled her closer and stared at the blank screen. Loki almost sighed. He wanted to think similarly about his childhood, but somehow he could not. Thinking back all the centuries to when he and Thor were still boys he had only fond memories, oddly enough also when it concerned Odin.

Throwing a quick glance at the engineer, the Demigod leaned back on the couch as Tony kissed Pepper's hair line and then addressed J.A.R.V.I.S.

"J, start _The twelve tasks of Asterix._ I think we need something to laugh now."

* * *

Thor had reached a decision while marching into the catacombs of the palace, the walk to store away the scepter and getting back to his chambers long enough to think about many things.

It was time – time to finally make his own decisions and not blindly follow what the All-father deemed right in this very special moment in his very biased ways.

He would stand by his brother's side this time, come what may. And if it turned out to be one of Loki's so-called schemes, he deserved nothing more than falling for it and facing the consequences.

When he finally reached his chambers he found his mother hovering in front of the massive doors, the guards at the entrance throwing her confused looks as she worried away on her fingers, her eyes rimmed red with unshed tears.

"Mother…?"

"Tell me about him. Is he alright? Who are the Man of Iron and Lady Pepper? Are they treating him well?" The questions spilled from her lips, and as he reached out to catch her hands, also tears started to flow.

Ever since her little boy had fallen from the Bifrost, everybody was only talking about his flaws, his tricks, how they always knew that he would bring shame on Asgard and their king, and she had stopped defending him eventually.

The Thunderer could not help himself as he saw his mother tear up and gathered her in an awkward, one-armed hug, as he was still carrying the crate with the tesseract, and was waving at the guards who discretely moved away to grant their interim leader and his mother some privacy.

He waited until the heaviest sobs had died down before leading Frigga towards the entrance door, and made her sit down on one of the comfortable chairs in the entrance hall, putting down the crate on a small table.

"After all… after all that has happened, it was so easy, it did not hurt so much anymore to picture him as a monster…"

"He is not a monster!" Thor boomed, his hand crashing down on the side table, throwing his mother a fierce look that she had never seen on him before. Odin might have recognized it, the defiant look of his outraged son that called him an ignorant fool. Thor knew better than calling his mother that. He was disappointed, though, that she, of all people, had given up on Loki.

"He is not a monster", he repeated more quietly, his gaze softening. "We made him one."

"Thor…"

"No, mother. How many times did I not care, because I thought that father would know best, because, after all, he was supposed to know? He would have placed a reckless idiot on Asgard's throne, and entire Asgard would have cheered on him for doing so! Everyone may blame Loki for being jealous and selfish, and maybe part of that is also true, but he was the only one who saw the bigger picture, how I would have doomed Asgard's fate, because I was nothing more than a spoiled, selfish brat. I have thanked Loki for humbling me, because that is what he did and what our father did not have the bravery to do. It is our fault that my little brother always felt the need to prove himself to Odin. Where I failed with my warpath against Jotunheim, he would have succeeded without losing one single man, because he is using his intelligence where I am using brute force."

Falling down onto the chair next to his mother, he reached out for her again, catching her long fingers in his large hands.

"He never meant anything bad to Asgard, and by the Norns, he would have all the reasons."

"He guided the Jotnar here to kill your father; Thor", Frigga stated, and it was really hard to hold his strict gaze.

"He wiped out the threat by killing their king, and he showed them that we have the means to erase them, still, he did all of this for Odin. That old fool never saw who would have been better suited for the throne, not that Loki ever wanted it. He was happy with Sigy…"

"Please, Thor, don't say her name. Don't… go there…"

Thor defiantly watched his mother and let go off her hands.

"You and father made him marry her, what were you expecting? Both of them living next to each other for the rest of their lives? He made the best out of this situation, banned from his home while still being more a child than a man. We destroyed this. We stole his family, we killed his children, we tortured him, we watched how he returned on father's demand, we watched Odin blaming him for finding happiness, because how could he dare and love his wife, have children with her? Odin was the one who knew about the prophecies. Let me tell you something, mother. If someone was doing this to me and my beloved, Ragnarök would be the lest they had to worry about, because they would not have enough time waiting for it."

Her gaze was directed to the floor by now, mesmerizing at the tiny sounds her tears made as they hit the fabric of her dress.

Loki had been terrified when they had told him about their decision that he was to marry… he had proven himself in battle, he was a skillful sorcerer already then, but this bond, it had scared him, still, he had taken his duty because the All-father demanded it.

Thor sighed deeply.

"I did not come here to argue with you, mother. But it saddens me that you, the one who always spoke for him, even though you always bowed to Odin's decisions in the end, will not give him the benefit of the doubt."

"He tried to take over Midgard, Thor."

"He was possessed by the Mad Titan Thanos, and he managed to defy him and keep Midgard safe. He fell into the Void, Mother, and frankly, I think that all this alliance was about was finding a way to get back home… no matter how bad of a home Asgard has been to him in the past centuries."

Lifting himself from his chair, the Thunderer closed the space to his mother, kneeling on the floor next to her chair, grabbing both of her hands.

"I feel ashamed for letting him down, mother. He is my brother, and even I just wanted to see the mad man who was trying to take over another realm. One man saw more than that, did not let his prejudices get the best of him. The Man of Iron fought Loki and ultimately saved his planet by wiping out the Chitauri army. He was the only one who also realized that Loki was not the master of his own mind and yet did everything to build in backdoors into Thano's plan so he would not succeed.

Mortals are most peculiar, Mother. Loki almost killed the Man of Iron, yet, not in my entire life have I seen someone as fiercely protective of my brother as friend Tony and his Lady Pepper. You know how Loki is, he closes up when he feels threatened, we would not have found out anything about Thanos had we interrogated him, even if we had treated him well. This man and his woman managed to make Loki open up, maybe also by overwhelming him with their care, but I dare say that he trusts them more than any person on Asgard. How many times did Loki not speak up, not reveal the truth because he knew no one would believe him? We faulted him, Mother, big time, as friend Tony would say."

His radiant blue eyes looked up at her, unshed tears shining in them, and all she wanted to do was hug him, hug both of her boys and make all the bad things go away.

"I feel horrible", she sobbed, sliding down from her chair to kneel with Thor, gathered in his strong embrace, hiding her head against his large chest.

"Is he really well?" she asked after a while, shuffling down into a sitting position as her knees started to hurt. Thor moved down with her.

"Lady Pepper made him wear an arm sling and he did not know what to say against it." Thor chuckled at that, remembering Loki trying to protest, the Man of Iron shushing him and bickering with the voice from the ceiling.

"Do you think… I could visit him?"

* * *

Tony had waited until Pepper had let go off him, curling around one of her pillows as she turned to her other side, fast asleep and tucked in safely into the blanket she just stole from him.

He had waited twenty more minutes, waited for sleep to come, but his mind would not switch off.

Loki's throaty laughter still rang in his ears, the way their last movie had depicted bureaucracy obviously similarly viewed at in all realms. Pepper had been curled up against his side, one of her hands covering the reactor.

She was half asleep on his shoulder when he realized what his hand was doing on her lower stomach, unconsciously drawing tiny circles.

When they had found out two days ago his first thought had been that his normal reaction would have been to freak out.

He had no clue how to raise a child. He had no clue how to keep a happy life and a happy wife. All he had was firsthand information how you did NOT do that.

Instead of a feeling of dread and fear, however, all that welled up in his chest was so very similar to what he felt for Pepper. How could something like that be bad?

It couldn't, he decided, after all, it was the natural next step. They would have reached this point, eventually, even if hell had not broken lose all those days ago. If he had had his way that fateful evening when Coulson had appeared and destroyed his plans of proposing.

He still would be in the same place, and his feelings would not be different, and this actually made him smile. Pepper would have said yes, they would have found out a bit later, nothing would have been different…

Well, except for the fact that he was trying to shield Loki from S.H.I.E.L.D., that he was housing a bunch of super-hero-spy-assassins, a green rage monster and fucking Captain America, and he was in the good graces of none of them except for the other Demigod who had helped rescuing earth.

Sighing, he sat up on the bed and slowly shifted to the edge, away from Pepper, his bare feet touching the soft carpet, which made him smile again. Leave it to Pepper that he did not have cold marble floors everywhere, just because he liked dark marble.

He silently made his way towards the door, trudging down into the living room in the darkness, finding one of his Stark Pads on the way there. He thought about curling up under one of the blankets, working a bit, maybe fiddling around with some of his ideas to make the arc reactor and its clean energy a greater asset to mankind, thinking about cars, public transportation, central heating, and whatnot…, tiring himself out and then find his way back to his bed, eventually.

He was halfway through the second chapter of _What to expect when you're expecting_ when J.A.R.V.I.S. addressed him.

" _Sir…"_

Tony actually jerked a bit. It did happen very often to him that he was completely consumed by one of his projects, by one of his creations. Though, his son… _his son_! He would never do what Howard did, calling one of the most important people in his life a creation. Finding out what was happening in these very moments, as cells were dividing and fates were designated, it completely blew his mind, so completely that even J.A.R.V.I.S. was able to startle him.

"What is it, J? Everything alright?"

" _I was wondering, Sir…"_

J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded hesitant.

"About what, J?"

" _Your motivations concerning Mr. Laufeyson. What exactly do you hope to gain?"_

"He's been with, Thanos, Jarv, come on, you're smart enough to figure out that one on your own."

" _He knows about as much about Thanos as Mr. Odinson does. His main contact has been with_ the Other _."_

Shifting on the couch, Tony put the tablet down next to himself.

"You have seen him, J. Even when he was threatening me, when he was still possessed, he was never really their slave. He took the opportunity to escape when it came. He could have left once Bruce beat the crap out of him, fled. He decided to stay, and he looked so lost, like he didn't know where to go and was knowing no-one would be reaching out for him, trying to save him. He does not want to go to Asgard, because that would mean his death, still, it's the only home he has, and it feels horrible to have nowhere to go…"

" _Sir…?"_ J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded confused, and Tony was wondering for the umpteenth time when his AI had started transmitting emotions in one single word, he was wondering if J.A.R.V.I.S. was even aware he was doing it.

"I've been there, J.A.R.V.I.S. Impending death, no safe haven, no-one I could trust, not even the woman I wanted to be at my side, being betrayed by everyone around me. I know how it feels to be alone, and he must have had this feeling for way to long now…"

" _You have never been alone, Sir."_

"I know, J. How about I'll be his Yinsen, his J.A.R.V.I.S. for the moment?"

" _Sir?"_

"Buddy, do you think I don't know that you hitched resources of every server, heck, every fiber-optic cable you could access? Don't you think I know there were fluctuations in Malibu's electric supply network as I generated the new element? Don't you think that I chose to ignore that my arc reactor most probably would not generate enough energy?"

Looking up to the ceiling, Tony turned to his back, stuffing the pillow under his head into a more comfortable position.

"Don't you think I did not see all the alterations you made to the surveillance and security systems, the changes you added to your own program to make it almost impossible for S.H.I.E.L.D. or anyone else to hack you? You never said anything, J, and maybe I should have said something, earlier."

" _It is my main function to keep you save and sound, Sir."_

"Yeah… I never told you to hitch the supply network or change your program. You went to extreme measures to help me, and there are so many people who would say that I of all people do not deserve loyalty like that. Even Pepper thought that I had gone bonkers."

" _Though, she did not have all necessary information, Sir."_

Tony took a deep breath. That had been his intention back then, not letting her know that he was dying. She had bought it, even though she had realized his self-inflicted celibacy after the whole Stane-incident, and she had commented on it.

Making her CEO had kept her busy, and off his track, after all, he was not supposed to fall for her of all people, he was not supposed to fall at all, not when he was perishing ever so slowly, somehow he was glad that she was so used to his casual flirting that she did not really react to when he really meant it.

" _I suppose, Mr. Laufeyson will be a rather permanent guest for the time being, won't he?"_ J.A.R.V.I.S. asked then.

"Yeah. And maybe you could try to be a bit less hostile. You saw what he did when Pepper rushed out when Rhodes was threatening me."

As much as Tony had been standing between Loki and War Machine, Loki had positioned himself in front of Pepper as soon as she was close enough to the Demigod."

" _Please tell me you do not intend keeping him just because he has some experience in raising children",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. stated then, and it made Tony laugh.

"Well, uhm… let's say it might be one of the reasons… I doesn't hurt do have a God on your side, does it?"

" _I guess it does not. Sir, Dr. Banner is trying to reach you. Do you want me to tell him that you already retired for the night?"_

Sighing, the engineer shifted from his lying position to a sitting one. He had been waiting for any of the Avengers to contact him again. Actually, he had thought they would do it way earlier, and they would gang up on him.

Obviously, they had chosen the one of them they knew he liked better than the others.

"Put him through, Buddy. Might as well listen to what he has to say now and save some time."

* * *

They indeed had carefully chosen the physicist to call out to Tony. Mainly, because all of them assumed that if Steve had tried to reach him, Tony would have brushed him off.

Interestingly, it had been Clint who had been voting for Stark's plan first, while Natasha and Captain America were convinced that the Demigod had some hold over the inventor and his girlfriend. Bruce had been indecisive at first.

He knew the man for a few days now, and to be honest, he barely knew him at all. It was the beast that was fond of both Iron Man and Tony on a basic trust level, and actually put up an internal battle when Bruce was contemplating what the Widow and the Soldier had to say.

Fury's reaction to Tony's protectiveness of the Trickster God had fired another round of discussions and what had been presented earlier that day. That man indeed had secrets. Or, as Tony put it, _even his secrets had secrets_. All of them had felt very uncomfortable when the director tried to order them to go against what had been decided at the conference.

Little did they know that the engineer had been waiting for them to call him. It didn't really matter whether it was Steve or Bruce. They all had tried talking him out of keeping Loki here, dead set on incarcerating him, or even worse, sending him back to Asgard.

He was feeling rather uneasy, though, with inviting Bruce up to the Penthouse. After checking on both Pepper and Loki (oh, J.A.R.V.I.S. was such an incredibly useful invention – even though the AI chose not to tell his creator about the two times where the Trickster God's brain waves clearly showed that he was awake and faking to be asleep while listening to a conversation between the engineer and Miss Potts), he was told that both of them were sound asleep.

Contemplating the risk having the physicist up here, Tony sighed and told Bruce that he would be visiting him at the guest floor – after finding some shoes, because, while marble was incredibly beautiful, it also was fucking cold.

When he stepped out of the elevator, Bruce was already waiting for him in the common area, a steaming cup of tea in his hand, offering him some.

Tony was so surprised by actually finding Banner there alone, and not having the entire Avengers ganging up on him that he just shrugged and accepted the offer. Why not have some tea? Could not be any more detrimental for his sleeping patterns than reading half of a book on pregnancy in under two hours.

They both sat there, then, at the counter of the kitchen, clutching their cups, and not knowing how to start.

"You know… I thought I'd have Barton in my face the second the doors of the elevator opened", Tony sighed after a while, pushing away the cup. Chamomile was so not his cup of tea, literally.

"Clint… has been very thoughtful after you mentioned Loki also being possessed. We have been discussing this issue a lot… How did you get all this information you presented today?" Banner got up from his seat and emptied the contents of Tony's mug into the sink while turning on the electric kettle again. Busying his hands kept him from asking what he really wanted to know, the video footage had him worried more than he wanted to acknowledge.

"Well… as much as S.H.I.E.L.D. tries to hack J.A.R.V.I.S. all the time, as much he is hacking S.H.I.E.L.D. He's just a little more successful with it, right Buddy?"

" _It is not my fault that a child could override their firewall, Sir."_

Tony chuckled softly, while Bruce continued rummaging around in the kitchen.

"Why are they trying to hack J.A.R.V.I.S.?" he asked, his head turning to the engineer who by now was sporting a steep furrow between his eyebrows, scrutinizing the other man.

"Because J.A.R.V.I.S. keeps my secrets. They're dying to get their greedy fingers on my technology, be it the suits or my reactor."

"Well… you're claiming to give clean energy to the world with your reactor, so you should not wonder if they want to know how…", Bruce interrupted himself. "You don't mean the reactor powering the tower, right?"

Tony just stared at him. The other man continued preparing a cup of tea, putting two sugar cubes into the mug before he added the bag and the hot water. When he placed it in front of Stark, his eyes never quite meeting Tony's, he sighed.

"What do you want, Banner? You didn't invite me here to proselytize me from coffee to tea. If you're trying to talk me out of helping Loki, you'll need the rest of the gang for backup, and believe me, it won't work."

"That's exactly what we wanted to avoid… ganging up on you…"

"I'm still waiting for an explanation." Crossing his arms, Tony leaned back on the chair, his eyes never leaving the other man.

"How badly is he hurt?" Banner blurted out, hands gripping the counter rather forcefully, as he lifted his gaze.

Tony opened his mouth to say something along the lines that this could not really be what he wanted to know when the super-secret boyband plus one girl had nominated him to be their voice. Banner cut him off before he could say a word.

"Jesus, Tony, we also were there this afternoon. You did not only convince the rest of the world that Loki did everything _but_ try to take over our planet, ok?! Did you see him move when he was taking the Tesseract from the S.H.I.E.L.D. base? He was limping and sitting in a posture as if his hip and ribs were bruised. And I… the other guy… had nothing better to do than smash him into…"

"Whoa, hold your horses, Dr. Banner. The Hulk's sensitive treatment broke the hold they had on him, after all. He may have a broken shoulder and some bruised limbs and strained muscles, but at least he's himself again!"

Bruce stared at the engineer who had nothing better to do than take the mug in front of him, sniff at it and then take a gulp before the physicist could warn him that it was still on the boiling end of the hot-scale. To his surprise, Tony just let out a surprised hum and then took another sip.

"He is fine, Bruce. As fine as someone can be after being exiled and tortured and really, really desperate and alone. J.A.R.V.I.S. is monitoring him, he's healing, and let's be honest, if he did not want to be here, we could not stop him from leaving. I know I'm asking a lot when I tell you to trust me, because except for Pepper and my bots nobody does, but he is on our side, ok?"

Banner thoughtfully nodded, watching in awe how Stark took another gulp from the still almost simmering beverage.

"I never thought you'd be the fruit tea type. Fury tried to order us to take Loki out of the Penthouse by force. After all that we have seen. Clint almost immediately refused", he then softly said, watching the engineer's brows furrowing again."

"And you?"

"Steve and I also said no. And yes, Captain America is capable of disobeying orders if they go against his morals. As I said, not only all of these politicians got the message this afternoon."

Taking a deep breath, Tony leaned back.

"And Miss Romanoff?" To be honest, she really was the wild card in that team. He didn't know the archer enough to really judge his reactions. From the endless tirades he'd had to endure concerning Captain America, he guessed that the soldier was going for the underdog. Bruce… tried to stay out of stuff like this, but concerning the physicist he had been sure that he could convince him.

"Glared her no at Fury. She's really intimidating…" Reaching for his cup with Chamomile tea, Banner leaned his elbows on the counter and watched the engineer. It had been a long time, since he had allowed another person working so close to him, being as close as Tony had been.

The engineer looked distracted, his eyes focusing on the cup in his hands.

"So only Rhodey chose to follow his orders…" Oh, how this did fit. His friend going against him without thinking twice, because to be honest he never was his friend. And Tony knew it and just tried to ignore it because it made him a little less lonely.

"Who?"

"Who what?" Brown eyes snapping up to watch Banner, Tony shook off these depressing thoughts.

"Who is Rhodey?"

"The guy manning War Machine… The Iron Patriot? I suggested him as replacement for me. The guy showed up on my balcony a few hours ago, pointing his machine gun at me while demanding to hand over Loki and insulting Pepper."

"I thought the pilot of the other suit was your friend. Why should he do something like that?" Banner was confused by now.

Tony's glance turned sad for an instant before flickering back to a neutral expression.

"Well. The emphasis is on _was._ J.A.R.V.I.S. had to take over the suit, Rhodes was trying to shoot me to get to Loki, convinced that I was possessed. Fury must have ordered him without telling him that his new team actually chose a different path. And the good soldier he is, he of course followed that order."

Bruce just stared at the other man.

"Who needs an enemy with friends like these? I don't know if I want that guy in our team. Why didn't you…" He interrupted himself with a deep sigh.

"Well, I guess you couldn't just call us, huh."

"As I said, J.A.R.V.I.S. took care of it. He scared the shit out of Rhodes, locking him in in War machine, and assembling MARK V to VII at the same time."

"You know that we should meet, right, Tony? As in Captain America, Clint, Natasha, you and me. We decided to back you up, still, we need all the information there is. We need to talk to Loki, we need to figure out what has to be done next." Banner just summed up what all of his team members had told him to tell Stark, so that this did not end up in a one-man-against-S.H.I.E.L.D-show, that Tony most probably would win.

"I'm telling you this for two days now, Bru…"

A flash of lightning illuminated the entire floor, thunder roaring through the sky only shortly after.

Tony's head snapped up. It had not been raining seconds before, and also the forecast had said nothing about a tempest, and now…

"Oh, fuck!"

Shooting up from his place he sent the barstool flying. It was too early. The fucking Thundergod was coming back too soon. No way in hell he could have bargained successfully for Loki's life in a mere few hours.

"If you really wanna help, stand by, I'll call you if I need help. J.A.R.V.I.S., ready a suit!"

"Tony…?"

"You know, this can be good or bad news… You could stand your ground against Thor, right? I'd rather not have the only guy who ever met Thanos decapitated by the end of the night!"

With that the engineer disappeared into his private elevator, leaving an empty cup and a worried Bruce Banner behind.


	8. Children of Snow

_**Chapter 8: Children of Snow**_

 _Hard times do not make heroes. It is during the hard times when the 'hero' within us is revealed. (Bob Riley)_

* * *

Loki was taking longer than usual to awake from his slumber. In the past days, before Stark and Lady Pepper had taken him in, he had not slept at all, always fearing _The Other_ would haunt his dreams or catch a glimpse on what betrayal he planned secretly.

It took some time until the sound of thunder made it to his consciousness, and his first reaction was to bury his head against the soft pillow, pulling the blanket closer around him, and willing Thor to go away.

When he realized what it was that he was hearing, he briefly thought about vanishing into thin air and never coming back. He doubted that Thor could have bargained for his life in a mere few hours. The Thunderer had not accomplished what Odin had ordered, and Thor never had been good in _talking_ his way out of any situation he was confronted with.

To sum things up he had very little faith that Thor could convince Odin.

He was hoping for his Mo… for Frigga, though. He was hoping that she would at least give him the benefit of the doubt, that she would realize that he had _let_ her spot him in between the realms, that she somehow would realize that it had been a call for help. A call to stop him.

The door to his bedroom opened while he was still contemplating his options. If he ran now, he would always be on the run… If he didn't he would most probably be dead by the end of the night.

His free hand fisted against the soft cotton of his bedsheets as his head turned to the door, readying himself for whoever the All-father had sent with the golden prince to fetch the black sheep of the family.

It was Lady Pepper that appeared in the halo that was created by the light in the hallway against the darkness of the guestroom, making him think once more about how mortals appeared to have no shame. No respectful lady of Asgard would have barged into a man's rooms… especially not only wearing what appeared to be the top half of some silky, dark red pajamas that was too big for her, reaching down to mid-thighs, only her fingertips visible at the openings of the arms.

A strand of her strawberry-blonde hair was sticking out in a weird angle, and as he sat up, he willed his hand to let go off the bedsheet to reach up and smoothen his hair.

"Please tell me this is not what I think it is…" Her voice was rough from sleep and Loki tried not to glance at her bare legs while she was asking him for a confirmation of the obvious.

Well, at least to him it was obvious. For all she knew Thor could also appear with rainbows and birds singing.

His free hand involuntarily clawed at the bedsheets again as he tried to hold her gaze, sounding more stable than he actually felt.

"Thor is coming. I guess our plan to have him bargaining for my life contained one big flaw – Thor bargaining for my life", he stated in a bitter tone as he sat up fully, swinging his legs out from under the blanket, his feet touching the soft carpet.

Why could they not even give him a day? One day to catch his breath, to bathe in the generosity Stark and Lady Pepper were offering? One day that he did not feel like a fugitive or one step away from dying?

"Maybe everything worked out and your father realized that you never meant anything evil?" She tried to sound reassuring; however, she was not so sure herself what this visit in the middle of the night would mean.

Loki just sent her a defeated glance.

"No. He is coming back too soon. Concerning me, Odin has never been easy to convince. And the council would be even more hesitant to even mull about the possibility that this is not just one of my schemes."

"You've been yelling _Wolf_ one too many times in the past, huh?" Pepper questioned, getting a confused look as answer.

"Uhm… that's a fable here on earth, a shepherd yelling about the wolf was attacking his sheep and everyone came running… until they did not believe him anymore, and when the wolf really attacked nobody came to help", she offered the short version.

His free hand fisted around the satiny fabric of his emerald pajamas. He did not know whether J.A.R.V.I.S. had outfitted him, or whether Tony or Pepper had had some input, because all his clothes appeared to be carefully chosen, and somehow he liked all of the colors.

"No. No… I never did something like this. They never believed me, even when I was still part of that council, they are mainly deciding what Odin wants, never thinking on their own. I… had to be creative, sometimes, to change opinions and evade impending war, just because they'd rather bash their heads in instead of talking to other people, other realms, first. I guess they were having a feast after I fell into the Void…"

Pepper watched him as he got up, once more running his hand through his hair. When had it gotten so long? How long had he been gone? Why couldn't they give him one day?

"I am so tired of running away… maybe I should just let them bring me back to Asgard and put an end on all of this", he softly said, flinching at the offended huff that reached him from the door.

"Oh, stop being such a Drama Queen. One of the suits is already being assembled on the platform, it doesn't look like Tony's willing to let them take you away that easily." Pepper had folded her arms in front of her chest now, sending him a glare.

"It is getting ridiculous, him always saving me. It would be the second time he goes against Thor to… rescue me? Keep me? Why is he doing this?" The Demigod joined Pepper at the door to his bedroom, his green eyes intently watching her.

Pepper snorted, watching him closely as he stood there and marveled about the fact that this woman was not the slightest bit afraid of him – she knew what he had done and still she stood there and was discussing his current situation with him, trying to figure out a way out of it.

"Tony hates other people touching his stuff", she offered with a shrug and a lopsided grin.

"So I heard when he confronted Thor for the first time." Rubbing the elbow of his right arm through the fabric of the sling he threw her a look. He should be offended by being called stuff… or someone's property. Concerning Stark he was pretty sure that the other man did not mean in this context, though.

Under the scrutinizing gaze of the Demigod now also Pepper ran a hand through her hair, putting the one strand that had stood out in an awkward angle back in place.

"Well, Tony's stuff is my stuff, and he is quite bounteous compared to me", she said, turning around to the opening doors of the elevator before the Trickster had any chance to answer.

"Pep, Panic room, now!" The engineer just threw a side glance at his fiancée in front of Loki's bedroom, while striding over to the platform with long steps.

"Tony…"

"I'm serious, Pepper, you, Panic room, now! Take Loki with you. I told Bruce to stand by, I don't want you in here if the Hulk has to come up and smash Goldilocks into the floor because he doesn't want to listen…"

Pepper just growled, not moving a limb.

"Has anybody ever thought about the fact that Thor might have been successful? Or comes here to help Loki? Why do you guys always want to tolchock each other?"

Tony stopped mid-step and just looked at his fiancée flabbergasted, with the Demigod appearing behind her, clad in the green pajamas he had made J.A.R.V.I.S. order more for fun that actually thinking the God might want them, just because they matched his eyes. The sling was still in place, saying more about the God's real condition than he wanted to let them actually know.

His shoulder was still far from being fine.

"You watched _Clockwork Orange_ without me?!" the engineer deadpanned.

Loki rolled his eyes, figuring out that Stark was wearing the bottom half of Lady Pepper's makeshift nightgown, together with a black shirt and some loafers.

"Please, could you stop this bickering just for once?" the Demigod asked.

The inventor let out a resigned sigh before scratching the back of his head.

"Ok… so, what should we do? Not assume the worst? Has not worked too fine for me the last few times, Peps…" Tony asked, staring at her as she did not move.

"I just say that you should talk to him before starting a war against another realm. If he doesn't want to listen you still can let MARK III till VII off the hook and I will be cheering on them", she answered, holding his gaze.

" _Sir, Mr. Odinson has arrived at the platform. He is currently greeting MARK VII and introducing it to his mother. It does not appear that he came in a rush to take away Mr. Laufeyson"_ ; J.A.R.V.I.S. announced, making three heads whip around. Indeed, the Thundergod was standing there, his hand on the armor's shoulder, obviously talking to it.

"Does he look like someone who wants to kidnap his brother and take him to the scaffold by the end of the night?" Pepper had crossed her arms in front of her chest, while she was cursing Tony's love for everything marble. Yes, it looked nice. But you got cold feet. These would so be shoved to his side of the bed after all of this was over.

"Well, at least he did not bring the entire Viking God army, so I might stand a chance against him", Tony said before taking a deep breath, eyeing the Demigod.

Loki just stood there, nailed to the spot behind Pepper, still contemplating what Thor could want here, and why he chose to bring the Queen, when the woman turned around, taking his free hand with ice-cold fingers that made him flinch.

Thor was introducing the suit to his mother. Frigga. It made him clench even more. He had expected to see her again sometime, to face her, to explain himself. He was not sure if he was ready, though. One more day…

"I can tell them to come back tomorrow", Tony offered softly, seeing the God cramp his fingers around Pepper's hand. It was weird, seeing the man who had gone against Thor with nothing but a dagger and his bare fists seeking comfort in such a gesture.

It was even weirder to Tony that he did not feel the slightest need to protect her from him, and somehow this was creeping him out. How come that he, the one who trusted like two people (Pepper more than Happy, tough) and one artificial intelligence (and let's face it, his trust in J.A.R.V.I.S. still outweighed his trust in human beings, sorry, Peps) in his life did develop a basic trust level with the man who had tried to kill him a mere few days ago?

"Relax, okay? I promise, nothing bad will happen. Not today." Pepper's other hand was reaching up to caress Loki's forearm. "She must have been worried crazy, Loki. Why else do you think Thor brought her here?"

Loki was not so sure about that. Nothing he did ever ended good, every time he thought he had something he could cherish, something bad happened to put him back in his place.

"Tony, please, ask them to come in", Pepper turned to her fiancée, her feet getting colder every second she stood there on the marble floor.

"It would be very rude to let the Queen of Asgard stand outside in the rain while Thor is trying to make conversation with one of your suits", Loki supplied resignedly, as the warm, brown glance of the engineer rested on him, waiting for his decision.

Oddly enough, the Demigod was sure that the other man would get rid of Thor and Frigga, if he asked him to.

Tony just shrugged. "She may be the Queen of Asgard. Doesn't mean I have to lay out the red carpet every time she decides to stop by on a whim."

As the brunette turned around, calling out to J.A.R.V.I.S. to tell Bruce that he was most probably not needed, Loki was still staring at him, a strange feeling of déjà vu tingling in the back of his head.

* * *

 _She may be the Queen of Asgard. That does not necessarily mean she is welcome every time she decides to stop by on a whim._

Sigyn… his wife had used these very same words during one of Frigga's unannounced visits. She had not visited them in over a century, after showing up regularly in the first two decades to check on them. Everybody had thought that they would be struggling to get along with each other, both of them having a reputation of being difficult, strong headed, stubborn, independent of others. Their bickering matches sure could be seen as them arguing – to anyone who didn't know better…

Her family soon had given up on checking on them. They had turned to the All-father with their request, because they had to marry her off before their younger daughter could be wed to a very promising politician.

It was difficult to find somebody for Sigyn, though. She had been raped by one of the possible candidates her parents deemed wealthy and worthy enough to marry her. When it became obvious that she was pregnant, both her and his parents wanted them to marry anyway.

The miscreant beat her within an inch of her life, killing his own child in the process. He did not survive that fateful night, either. She may have been half dead. A knife to his jugular vein made sure he took the whole nine yards, though.

Interestingly enough, she had told him all of this during their first meeting, a few days before the wedding was supposed to take place. While most people understood why she was turning down offer after offer, you did not say no to the second prince of Asgard that easily.

"I most probably will not be a good wife, Your Highness. I can take care of our house, and what comes along with it, but… I…" her voice cracked and he could see that she was angry at herself for it, probably having rehearsed what she was telling him more than once, maybe finding a way to scare him off, finding a way out of this without offending the royal family.

To his very own surprise he wanted to comfort her and tell her everything would be fine. He only recently had returned from a very self-inflicted exile in the woods of Alfheim for the last three years, birthing and raising Sleipnir. To his surprise (or disappointment?), nobody had asked where he had been after distracting Svaðilfari, neglecting his chores at court, or actually, how exactly he had managed to distract the other horse. Nobody questioned his gift for the All-father, the eight-legged horse he brought home.

They had threatened him with a horrible death, should the builder finish the walls around Asgard in time, just because he had talked them into letting him use his horse. Why Freya was worth all this trouble was still beyond him, still, he had been young, and terrified, and thus ended up having his first sexual experience with a stallion.

Needless to say he also was not very keen on ever repeating anything related to this.

The disbelief in Sigyn's face when he honestly told her why he also would not be the best husband let him believe at first that she was disgusted.

"They did not even come looking for you? That beast could have hurt you!"

They were looking at each other for quite some time after their confessions, both wondering why they had been that honest to each other. It would have been easy to come up with excuses, like him being a mage or her scars being repulsive, but…

"We make quite the couple, don't we, Your Highness?" Sigyn asked, sending him a little smile and he found himself wanting to see that more often, unable to not smile back and telling her to call him by his name if they were to be wed.

At first he had suggested the marriage to keep all the others off their backs. She would not be bugged by her parents anymore, he could get away from Asgard, or at least from being a warrior, he was still part of the council, trying to advice Odin, and they could live their lives in peace.

What they never would have dared thinking about, though, was finding their soul mates. They matched each other, intellectually, their tempers were outbalancing the other, they had a mutual trust in the respective other that Loki had never known before, and once they had overcome their horrendous first experiences it was pretty hard to keep their hands off each other.

He had been bouncing Narvi on his knee, the boy playing with his father's hair, while Vali sat on the floor, taking apart one of his toys, when Sigyn had expressed her dislike of having her mother-in-law visiting them. He had let things slide at the court since she had told him he was to be a father, making sure that this experience was nowhere near as horrible as when she first had been with child.

Oh, and how Sigyn did tease him about being the one who actually had first-hand experience in giving birth…

Maybe Frigga just wanted to check what had Loki distracted from his chores, kept him from annoying all the other members of the council.

"I know you do not like her, Love. Still, she is our children's grandmother, and we could finally introduce them. We have been postponing this for too long, anyway…"

Sigyn could not really say anything against this, still, she remained skeptical. But Frigga was already there, and it would have been incredibly rude to send her away again.

He chose to ignore the dread he was feeling in his stomach and smiled as Frigga entered the room, trying to keep Narvi from pulling at his hair, while Vali pulled himself up using his father's pants as help.

Frigga's face did not light up with joy as she spotted this picture, her gaze fixed on Loki whose smile was quickly fading.

"What have you done…?!" she asked, the sound of her words sending a chill down his spine.

Tony chose this moment to stick his head out of the glass door leading to the assembling platform, yelling: "Hey, Pikachu, stop the downpour and come inside!"

It made Pepper roll her eyes and shook Loki from his reminiscence of the past.

* * *

Pepper had excused herself before both Thor and Frigga even made it into the Penthouse, finally realizing that her attire was not really suitable to greet the Queen of Asgard.

Loki's gaze followed her as she made her way up the stairs and disappeared in her and the engineer's bedroom, and his urge to flee this situation became almost unbearable again.

 _What have you done_ still rang in his ears, telling him that he would not be able to sleep for the rest of the night without reliving that fateful day in his dreams.

Thor's large hand came to rest on Tony's shoulder as he enthusiastically greeted him, once more letting him know how astonished he was by J.A.R.V.I.S.'s ability to steer the suit without Tony inside.

Loki flinched almost simultaneously with the engineer, now knowing the other man's aversion to being touched without his consent.

Thor, though, did not realize how Stark tensed while he put the crate with the Tesseract to the floor, his other hand coming to rest on the mortal's other shoulder.

"I come bearing fantastic news, friend Stark! Father is in Odinsleep which leaves me with the chores of the Throne!" he then announced, not even halfway through the big glass doors, his eyes searching for the man he had called his brother for close to two millennia now.

Frigga behind him made an inarticulate sound, a hood hiding her features, hands clutching the fabric of the coat. It was not good news, her husband in Odinsleep, grazing death ever so slightly.

"Yeah… how about next time you don't come with the tempest of the century to announce that? I've had enough people testing today how much my heart can take." Tony did not shrug off Thor's hands, he knew by now that the Thundergod was a hugger and you could do close to nothing against their urge to touch.

At that, Thor glanced outside, rain pouring down the windows, lighting illuminating the sky around the tower, and he sent the man in front of him an apologizing look. Stark had told them about his heart condition.

"I am sorry, friend Stark, I did not consider your illness. I thought, though, that you might want to be informed about the situation on Asgard as soon as possible." Loki's head snapped up, still, while Tony thought it was because of the news Thor had brought from his home, it was more the first sentence the Thundergod had spoken that stirred up the dark-haired God's curiosity again. He had heard Lady Pepper asking J.A.R.V.I.S. for Tony's heart when he had the panic attack. Could it be the man was not only risking his reputation, but also his health for him?

"It's ok, Hammertime, it's just a bit late, you know?"

When Thor finally decided to free the entrance also for his mother, Tony had moved them into the living room and Pepper had joined them just in time, wearing some tight black pants and flat shoes. She and Tony were flanking the God of Mischief on the couch, unaware of the green gaze that lay on the engineer as he got up again almost immediately, reminding himself that somewhere deep inside he did have good manners, even though he did not like 50% of the guests he was hosting (or was it 33.3%? Did Loki still count as a guest?). So he offered them something to drink and asked whether they were hungry.

A tiny smile made it to Loki's face when Thor asked for _popped tarts_ , while his mother… no, Frigga… asked for water. The golden Prince was always known for his appetite; Thor would eat beyond everything, more than once having Loki's stomach churning at his choice of food. It was new for him to be this fond of a particular form of food, though. Frigga just kept watching Loki who stayed close with the mortals, never rushing into her arms like she had imagined her lost little boy to do.

"Sure thing, Thunderpants, I think J.A.R.V.I.S. bought you a stash to last for a year." One brief glance in Pepper's direction told her that she was to stay exactly where she was, at their resident God's side, while he took care of the rest, coming back to an awfully silent living room with a few bottles of beer, a bottle of water and glasses and some of the pop tarts, still steaming from the toaster, balancing everything carefully on a tray.

This got the engineer, or more, the only other woman in the room the first disapproving glance from Frigga (and no way Tony would call her a Goddess, because the only Goddess in this room was Pepper… uh, he had to remember that one…). The great Man of Iron was serving his guests? Where were their servants?

Frigga threw an even more confused glance at Thor and the Man of Iron, as they clicked the necks of their bottles together and then drank directly from them. She frowned at the confinement Loki wore around his arm and upper body and the silky texture of the clothing he wore, resembling the clothes the woman and the Man of Iron appeared to be sharing. She frowned at the bare feet of her son.

She sat there and nipped on her water, frowning even more as Tony summed up what had happened in the few hours that Thor had been gone, and then did his best talking Thor out of paying both Fury and Rhodes a rather unpleasant visit.

"The thing is, Point Break, as for now, Loki has been pardoned by every country on this planet. As much as I would love you scaring both of them to tears, it would not help us, just show everyone that you are not as mentally stable as they want you to be, and what would this say about Lokes, huh?"

The mortal who was maltreating both of her sons' names frequently had leaned back on his couch into a heap of pillows while he was saying this, his arm draped on the backrest, never touching her youngest son, but cocooning him in his radiating warmth.

Thor took a deep breath, his blue gaze directed at his brother.

"You are not safe here, brother", he started, reaching out to touch the other God, who once more recoiled in his seat, away from Thor, into Tony's and Pepper's arms. The engineer did not move an inch as he felt the Trickster God lean against him. The dark-haired God never flinched as Pepper's hand came to rest on his forearm, her fingers still cold, her touch never so welcome.

"I am safer here than I would be on Asgard, Thor. I was allowed to explain myself, and T-Tony and Lady Pepper…"

Thor's fist crashed down on the armrest.

"You belong to Asgard, brother. I am King for now, no one will dare to harm you, while here…" He was getting loud, and he knew that actually he should stay calm, not pushing his brother in this defensive position that made him close up and snarl at everyone within spitting range. But he had come here, bearing these fantastic tidings, Thor would be in charge of any trial, any punishment that the court may inflict on Loki, and his brother was just once more too stubborn…

"I am not a baby, Thor", Loki's soft voice interrupted the Thundergod's thoughts.

"I can make my own decisions. It is this realm Thanos is interested in, it is myself that he most probably will want to hunt down. How long will you be king, Thor? How long until Odin awakes? How long until the council decides that this is one of my schemes or just the fact that I am a Frost Giant warrants my immediate imprisoning or worse? Especially if you bring me back when Odin is sleeping, pardon me, and once he awakes I have to fear for my life again?"

Loki had thought about moving forward on the seat, into his brother's space, as he acerbically questioned the longevity of this arrangement. Thor was nowhere near being made the permanent king. Neither would Odin refrain from changing any decision of his golden son that he did not like.

He stayed perched in between Pepper and Tony, and sounded rather resigned than acerbic.

"Father would not take your life, Loki. Mother, tell him! Not, once we explained…" the Thunderer tried to reason once more, studying Loki's tired face.

"It is the only thing I have left, Thor. He took away everything else from me. You should know. You have been there." Green eyes were piercing through Thor's soul now.

"This was different, Loki. You deserved these punish…"

"Oh, I deserved having my lips sewn shut by you because I outsmarted these dwarfs? I deserved being raped by _a horse_ because, while Freya is popular, and actually was interested in this Hrimthurse builder and asked me for help, she got cold feet and Odin himself threatened to kill me should the wall be finished in time? You were laughing at me and slapped my hind as I had turned into that mare…"

The God of Mischief bit his tongue here before revealing too much about Sleipnir. The stallion was still his son, his one child that nobody had maimed so far.

Tony's arm by now had left the backrest of the couch, his hand coming to rest on Loki's shoulder. Pepper had scooted closer, her hand having turned warm again in his vice-like grip and… oh… he loosened his hold to not crush her delicate fingers.

"I think we should stop this right now. It's been a long day", she said, having Thor huff offended.

"I am the King of Asgard now, Loki. You will bow to my…"

Another seething look hit him.

"Or you will do what, Thor? Did you bring your friends, so they can help you to restrain me while you forcefully abduct me from here, no matter if you are harming the Man of Iron or Lady Pepper, no matter what has been discussed this morning? Tell me, Thor, how does it feel, restraining a man who would die for the ones he loves and is _begging_ for their lives on his knees? How does it feel, restraining a man and making him watch his wife and his sons die? How does it feel, restraining your brother while your nephews are murdered on their Grandfather's order?!"

Loki this time deliberately punched low and knew it had hit whatever quickly formed plan Thor might have had to drag him back to Asgard. Yes. He may be King, now. But the council was unprepared, if he did appear there now, the only thing of Asgard he would see for a long time were the dungeons… until Thor managed to convince them of what the mortals here realized in under one day.

"Loki of Asgard, you will not talk in this way to your brother!" Frigga exclaimed, being hit by three pairs of equally angry eyes now, brown, green, and pale-blue, now it being her on the receiving end of sorrow, of fury, of disappointment, and frustration that had been stored away for centuries.

"How does it feel to be the reason for your own grandchildren and the love of your son's life being murdered on your husband's order, because, of course, you were more loyal to _him_ than you ever bothered being loyal to me, _Mother?!"_ Loki spat, a tiny part of him hoping to finally get another answer than _The All-father knows best_ , to finally get an answer that made sense.

"Loki…" Thor sent him his best puppy dog look, but was interrupted harshly.

Surprisingly, it was not his brother.

"Get out of my house."

Both Tony's and Loki's heads snapped around as Pepper all but growled at the other two Gods in the room. Her cheeks were flushed red, and Tony always had thought that he could tell when she was angry, but he had never seen her this furious before.

"Lady Pep…"

"I said get out of my house! You are not welcome here anymore. Take Queen Mum with you on your way out, He-Man, and before you come back here again with some half-assed plan, make sure to actually involve people in your fucking fairy-land, so your brother actually can go into this fucking library of yours without having to fear assassins behind every fucking pillar. J.A.R.V.I.S., if they're not gone in the next two minutes, initiate _Protocol Guardian!"_

With that she uncurled her fingers from Loki's hand and left the couch, graciously ascending the stairs to her bedroom, followed by four confused glances.

"It's pretty late, Thor. Why don't you come back in two or three days, so we can clear things with the Avengers. Make sure to talk to everyone who needs to be involved on Asgard that Loki can hit the libraries." The engineer sounded friendly, having the tiniest smile on his carefully schooled mask of hospitability.

"Friend T…"

Tony sighed while letting go off Loki, and scooted forward on the couch.

"Thor, seriously, we've had a shitty day, and your visit, even though it _is_ fantastic news that you're Asgard's head honcho for now, didn't really manage to make things better. Go home, claim your Throne and make sure your brother has something to return to willingly, instead of dragging him away from here scratching and biting. He's safe with me, and he's included in _Protocol Guardian_ which Pepper just activated, which means J.A.R.V.I.S. will aim some of my rather more creative weaponry at you in a little more than a minute.

Thor wanted to protest, puny mortal weapons, what should they do to him? Loki threw him a glance that silenced him.

"I saw those weapons, Thor. They would leave more than a scratch, also in you. If you value your appendages, please, for once, use what is inside your head and do as Lady Pepper and T-Tony said."

* * *

Pepper had thought that getting sick at the thought of someone's mouth being sewn shut was normal. Yet, as Loki continued she was reminded more and more of the story of Job, both the Devil and God testing out what a man's faith could take, and that made her stomach churn.

Already ass a teenager she had thought that Job should have told both of them to go fuck themselves, didn't they have more important things to do than testing the faith of one man? God's need to prove himself was already proof enough in her eyes that he was not the almighty, good and generous being he claimed to be.

Around her friends, parents, heck, the entire community of course she never dared talking about what she really thought, her mother would have cried, her father would have yelled at her and then have dragged her to church to confess her sins.

Because in his eyes it was a sin to believe that the bible was not written by God himself, and that there were other truths in the world – at least that was what she told herself back then.

Needless to say she had left that godforsaken farm in Nebraska as fast as she could, because, as _rebellious_ as she was as a teenager, as good she was at letting them hear what they wanted to hear. She was good enough in school to apply for scholarships, somehow ending up in California, somehow ending up at Stark Industries, and, somehow, after two days in the accountants' department, she ended up as the personal assistant of Tony Stark.

This man was living a life that she knew her father would greatly disapprove, mostly, though, because the man had money and her father didn't.

When she stumbled over him two days after she had started as his PA and he demanded that she should throw out the _two_ women in the guest room, she just wanted to disappear in a hole, trying so hard to look into his eyes and not at his other… assets. She was not a blushing virgin anymore, thanks to Tom Gordon and that spiked punch at their prom. And she also had not just been studying while she was at the university… but Tony Stark was enjoying his life in a way that made her think about how dull hers had been until now. And boy… he was handsome, and he knew it, and compared to these Neanderthals in her hometown, his nicely groomed appearance made her mouth water, even though she would never have admitted it.

She knew that he thought that she was just putting up with all the crap he pulled, that she just tolerated all of his quirks and did not really like being there for him, that's why he sometimes tried to push her limits, prove to himself that eventually also she would give up on him. But truth to be told, through him, and more recently also with him, she was living a life she had only dreamed of in Nebraska.

He did mind when she spoke her mind and he expected her to tell him off when he was doing something stupid. He showed her that there was more than just work (and he showed her that he did actually work pretty hard, and was not just partying around the world). He trusted in her. He showed her that you could _believe_ without having to take everything at face value. In that private jet, seeing him ascend with the nuke on his back had made her pray to a deity she thought she did not believe in anymore, and while having him back would surely not make her any more religious than before (because, let's face it, religion still was one of the most common reasons or excuses for mankind to bash their heads in, and, for heaven's sake, most of the time it was _the same frickin' God!_ ), it made her thankful.

It made her want to call her parents more than on birthdays and the high holidays, ignore the fact that they _never_ called their successful daughter in California who earned an indecent amount of money for babysitting a billionaire and leading a multinational company and who could have saved them from losing most of the land belonging to their farm to the bank.

Thinking about all the other occasions that they did not call her, like the funerals of an uncle and her grandmother, or that she had become an aunt (wait, when had her brother's wedding been?) had made her think about this wish again, postponing it. It was a bit unfair, most of the time she had been happy with them, and occasionally she missed them, especially her brother, but…

Tony was her family now.

Loki almost crushed her hand in his grip when he asked Thor about what had happened with the horse. She had read the myths that J.A.R.V.I.S. had found, she knew about the eight-legged foal he birthed, and the way he bit his lower lip as he spat out that Thor had slapped his hind made her think that Thor and Frigga possibly did not know the entire story.

She tried to smooth the waters, it had been a long day, it had been a shitty day. And then, of course, Thor had to open his stupid mouth and Loki had snapped back, sending her mind to a place where Grandparents thought that a vague prophecy warranted the murder of innocent children.

She had felt her throat constricting as the God next to her who was still clutching her hand had also addressed his mother, the woman who should have been at his side, who should have been overjoyed by her twin grandsons, and despite the fact that she had argued for letting them in, now all she wanted was to have them gone.

So she threatened them with J.A.R.V.I.S. and left the room before she actually started hyperventilating.

"Are they gone already, J.A.R.V.I.S.?" she asked into the darkness of her bedroom, scooting down to the floor next to the door, hugging her knees to her body.

" _Sir and Mr. Laufeyson are showing Mr. Odinson and Queen Frigga out as we are speaking. Do you want me to tell Sir to come up, Miss Potts?"_ the AI answered, discretely doing a scan on the distressed, but otherwise fine, woman, taking the picture of the day of his brother while he was already at it.

"It's fine, J.A.R.V.I.S., he will come up eventually."

Until then she would have hopefully managed to stop crying, get up from the floor and into bed.

* * *

Tony let out a deep breath he didn't know he had been holding when the glass doors closed behind Thor and his mother and both of them were gone just as suddenly as Thor had disappeared only a few hours ago.

"Aaand good riddance", he sighed, turning around to find Loki right behind him, holding the elbow of his injured arm in the sling.

"This… went better than I assumed. I though Thor would drag me back by my hair", he offered lightly.

"You know, I always thought that my old man was the biggest asshole on Earth. Your Dad gives him a run for his money, though", the engineer said, watching the green-eyed God closely as he turned his gaze to the floor, sighing before looking at the mortal again.

"Well, he is the King of Asgard… believe me, the pun _King of Ass-gard_ was already old when I was still a child."

Tony did him the favor and chuckled silently, slightly rolling his eyes with amusement. Then he turned serious again.

"I'm really sorry for what happened to your family, Loki. I… don't know what to say other than I'm sorry."

The engineer looked so sincere when he told him that, that the God felt his eyes water and averted his eyes while willing the tears down again. It had been such a long time since then, and sometimes… sometimes, he managed to forget that…

"They had chosen Sigyn on purpose for me, you know? She was feisty, and after some very bad experiences no man dared to approach or touch her, because they would lose an arm or more if they dared to. They thought she was the perfect match, I would be out of court more and not annoying the members that much, and her family gained some influence…" Loki heard himself say before he could do anything against it.

Tony smiled once more. "Well, you don't come off as the type for a dull and boring spouse, so I guess it was only a matter of time. Your old man should have told you about those fucking prophecies, though, instead of pulling some super-secret crap like that which was prone to backfire. Most prophecies are self-fulfilling, anyway…"

That sentence got him a frown from the Trickster God, so Tony did some more explaining.

"Well, prophecy is that you and your kids will cause Ragnarök and the downfall of Odin, and yap, that's also written down in Norse mythology here on Earth, so they marry you off to some chick that's known as the local ice-cube, because no way in hell she will let her husband touch her. But, oops, they fall in love and have some kids and now the old man thinks he has to act and wipe out the threat to his life. What was your first thought after they killed them, Lokes, huh?"

The God looked the other man in the eye, swallowing hard.

"I was catatonic for a few years, I did not really think, Stark."

A hard glance was directed at him.

"What did you do when they entered your house? What did you tell Thor back then, before curling up in yourself, taking as granted that Daddy Dearest had all the rights to do this to you?"

Green eyes rushed to glance at the mortal, he did not want to think back, he…

"I had killed already five of the ten Einherjer they had sent before Thor and his friends arrived, and managed to kill another two before they were able to restrain me… I was begging for their lives and when they showed no mercy and killed both my sons… and my wife who still tried to shield them, I swore… that Odin would pay for this…" Oh… well, coming to think of it, this prophecy indeed appeared to be self-fulfilling. While Loki did not have any intention of raising Ragnarök, he definitely would not move a finger to keep Odin from his destiny when the time came.

"Exactly. None of this would have happened if they hadn't done anything… Hell, even marrying and having kids would not have been a problem, if they'd let you live in peace, huh?" Stark asked, running a hand over his face. He did not like his old man, but if he was still alive, he at least wanted to believe that Howard would have been more accessible for his grandchildren, than he had ever been for his own son.

Loki sighed. "I guess. But it cannot be undone. And believe me, some of the things I did really warranted punishment…"

Tony snorted. "Yeah… how many times exactly did you try to trade off this Freya-chick? She's been quite popular, huh?"

The God laughed at this. "She still is as far as I know. What stories other than the building of the wall and my fateful involvement with Svaðilfari did make it to your myths?"

J.A.R.V.I.S. chose this moment to interrupt the billionaire and the Demigod, ignoring Pepper's statement and silent plea that Tony would come to their bedroom eventually.

" _Sir, Miss Potts appears rather distressed. Maybe you should join her in the bedroom."_

"Yeah, in a sec, J, I have to ask her anyways what made her… oh… shit…" Loki watched as most of the color drained from the other man's face all of a sudden. Tony's eyes went wide as he interrupted himself, the tiny smile on his face fading as he realized what Pepper most probably was associating with what she had heard only minutes before, and why she had kicked the Thundergod slash interims King of Asgard and his Mom out of the Penthouse. _How could he not think of his son when…_

He was reaching out unconsciously, his one hand softly landing on Loki's confined arm, the other one touching the God's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Lokes, I really wanna talk about this, but I really, _really_ gotta take this… I… She is… uhm… I gotta take care of this, ok? If you need anything, ask J.A.R.V.I.S., and J, you remember the talk we had before?" The engineer threw the confused Demigod another apologizing glance before letting go, his touch leaving two warm spots on the Demigod's skin that made him think of a similar, odd feeling when Lady Pepper had taken off the muzzle and had checked his injuries. Tony was all but running for the stairs, taking two steps at once as he made his way up to the bedroom.

" _About me being less hostile towards Mr. Laufeyson, Sir?"_ While Loki once more cringed as J.A.R.V.I.S. addressed him with his late biological father's name, the artificial intelligence sounded so smug, as if he was almost smiling when he answered his creator, and did not even try to hide it.

"Exactly that one. Loki's a guest, so treat him accordingly… Oh, Sweetheart, I'm…" the door to the bedroom closed behind Stark and blocked whatever conversation followed.

Taking a deep breath, Loki turned away from the glass doors and headed for the couch again. Even though he was still exhausted, he did not want to sleep right now, knowing that a very well stored away nightmare would for sure surface to haunt him.

His glance involuntarily wandered up to the closed bedroom door. And once more Lady Pepper was treated like a raw egg.

"J.A.R.V.I.S…?" he silently asked, addressing the AI for the first time, now that he thought of it.

" _Yes, Mr. Laufeyson? What can I do for you?"_ the entity answered, once more foregoing the soft beeping. After all, he had been directly addressed this time.

Sitting down on a mess of a blanket and a pile of pillows that he had not even realized on the couch before, the Demigod lifted his eyes to the ceiling, trying to figure out which of the tiny, almost microscopic holes in there contained the camera that was watching him in the moment.

He intended to ask how fatal Lady Pepper's condition was. When healing her bruises in the afternoon he had not checked for anything else than the damaged skin and blood vessels, yet…

What came out of his mouth was: "Why are you calling me Mr. Laufeyson all the time?" It did feel weird, conversing with nothing but air, knowing that wiring in the walls and a computer program were answering, yet J.A.R.V.I.S. appeared to be so much more…

" _Because according to Norse mythology, that is your last name. If you want me to address you differently, please let me know. Maybe, Odinson would be more correct? Norse mythology did not bequeath that you and Mr. Odinson were adoptive brothers, and nobody contradicted, so…"_

"I think that for the moment I would be even more uncomfortable with Odinson than I am already with Laufeyson… Could you not just call me… Loki?" Something was feeling weird beneath the blanket he was sitting on top of, and when he reached for it, he pulled out a flat, black, rectangular thing that was sporting the _Stark_ logo, just as so many other things in this household did, including Tony's shirt he was wearing for bed. He had seen Stark using one of these things during the presentation, swiping his fingers over the surface or tapping on it…

" _Of course, if you feel more comfortable with this. Thank you for not crushing Sir's tablet. I have to stock up on those again, he is prone to misplacing or destroying them… or letting DUM-E play with them – which equals destroying them."_

Loki threw another glance at the ceiling.

"Did he really scold you for being hostile towards me? It is a rather natural feeling towards the man who tried to invade your planet and yet, in these quarters, it is the artificial intelligence that by definition should not have any feelings who is acting like I would have expected Lady Pepper and Stark to act." Curious, he was turning the object in his hands, looking at the shiny surface. "What is he doing with these things?"

" _Sir has been reading before Dr. Banner contacted him and Mr. Odinson payed us a visit",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. answered, foregoing Loki's first question as he did not want to discuss his suspiciousness with the Demigod.

Loki hummed a silent hmm, turning the object around again. Reading. In his mind this required a book, and turning pages and not a flat black… thing.

" _I have access to more than 3.7 million e-books if you feel more like reading than sleeping now, … Loki?"_ It did not sound correct to address the Demigod only with his first name, however, since he was uncomfortable with both his surnames it was all J.A.R.V.I.S. could work with for the moment.

The God echoed: "3.7 million… and those are all on this tiny… thing?" Asgard's library was one of the biggest in all nine realms, yet, this was an amount of books he could not really grasp.

" _No, they are stored on various servers that are distributed worldwide. I have access via the internet and can download what you desire. I highly advice against the_ Eddas _, though. Humans have been a bit creative in conveying the stories about the God Loki they heard of… maybe I could interest you for Rudyard Kipling's work, though, since you seemed to enjoy the movie? I do believe language is not a problem?"_

"No, it is not… You are talking about _The Jungle Book_ , and not these potion-drinking mustache-wearing Gauls, aren't you?"

" _Indeed, I am"_ , J.A.R.V.I.S. answered, observing as the God slightly nodded, never taking his eyes off the object in his hands. The AI marked it as curiosity towards an item that was obviously not known on his home-planet. Little did he know that, even though Loki did marvel at the tablet, his main thoughts were that with this apparatus, it also would have been impossible for Thor, did he ever bother to read anything his brother recommended, to leave dog-ears or food-stained fingerprints on the precious pages.

A lamp behind the couch lit, while the rest of the room grew darker, and the display auf the tablet came to life. J.A.R.V.I.S. made sure to close _What to expect when you're expecting_ before Loki could spot it and displayed the first page of the book.

 _Now Rann the Kite brings home the night  
_ _That Mang the Bat sets free  
_ _The herds are shut in byre and hut  
_ _For loosed till dawn are we._

 _This is the hour of pride and power,  
_ _Talon and tush and claw.  
_ _Oh, hear the call!—Good hunting all  
_ _That keep the Jungle Law!_

 ** _Night-Song in the Jungle_**

Adjusting his arm in the sling so he could hold the device, a movement with his forefinger as he had seen Stark do it, moved the page, his eyes scanning over the words written there like… oh, when was the last time that he had been reading a book? There still should be one lying on the nightstand in his quarters on…

Loki definitely did not want to think about how he had left his bedroom before his fall into the Void, he did not really know when before Thor's almost-coronation it was that he had last found the peace to read something, so he concentrated on the story that was unfolding before his eyes, leaning back on the couch after the first paragraph. He was turning and leaning against the heap of pillows Stark had created after the second paragraph, pushing his cold toes beneath the blanket, unbeknownst to him mirroring the posture that the owner of this tower had occupied not so long before.

J.A.R.V.I.S. in the meantime was contemplating what other needs his various wards might have, maybe Loki wanted something to drink, or a snack? Sir was still taking care of Miss Potts, and Dr. Banner was still pacing around in the communal kitchen of the guest floor, so J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him that Thor had left, putting the other man in an obviously more relaxed state.

"J.A.R.V.I.S.?"

" _Yes, … Loki?"_

The Demigod had leaned back on the pillows and scooted lower on the couch, the blanket covering him now up to his waist, clutching the tablet to his chest as he once more tried to find the camera in the ceiling. Little did he know that J.A.R.V.I.S. could watch every corner of the Penthouse from hundreds of objectives in the ceiling and the walls.

"How fatal is Lady Pepper's condition?"

Oh… this was something that caught J.A.R.V.I.S. off guard, something he had not taken into account, yet. Yes, there was an affection from both Sir's and Miss Pott's side towards the resident Demigod. He did not expect it to be somewhat mutual, though. He would have to correct these parameters.

" _Rest assured, it is nowhere near fatal, it just requires… special care, I would say."_

Loki's unspecific glance to the ceiling was skeptical, though, he did not press the matter any further and returned to the book in his hands.


	9. In Silence

_**Chapter 9: In Silence**_

 _Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you will look back and realize they were the big things. (Kurt Vonnegut)._

* * *

Tony Stark never had been a morning person. Or, to be more accurate, no matter what time of the day he awoke, it took him some time to get his brain to working.

This did not mean that he was not able to dress himself, or brush his teeth, make his unruly hair a little less unruly, i.e. styled in a way none of New York's best hair stylists were able to, because, after all, he was Tony Stark. It just meant that his brain was not fully booted yet, and holding a conversation with him was very likely impossible, because it would be very one-sided.

This was one of the very few mornings he was up and out of their bedroom before Pepper, mostly, though, because she needed a bit more time in the bathroom to make herself presentable, as she had said. Not that he cared, he knew how the woman looked without makeup and in her shabbiest yoga-pants and his Iron Maiden shirt, and still thought she was the most beautiful woman on Earth.

He did not care, especially not at 7 a.m. in the morning after a day spent in hell (well, except for the movie session, that had been fun), when all his brain managed to formulate was _Need coffee_. So he was ambling down into the kitchen, trying to tie his tie and giving up eventually as his hands would not cooperate to sling it correctly. This had to wait until after coffee, at least J.A.R.V.I.S. was a dear, he could hear the machine gurgling already.

"J… music… loud…", was his monosyllabic order to his AI, shuffling closer to the coffee maker while trying to find a cup.

" _Sir, Mr. Laufe…"_

"Ozzy, J. Loud." Having found his cup, Tony turned around to lean against the counter, facing the living room while staring into nowhere through half-closed eyes.

J.A.R.V.I.S. dutifully followed his order this time, watching how the Demigod who had fallen asleep on the couch while hugging the tablet to his chest only one hour ago jolted up in a sitting position after the first riffs of Black Sabbath's _Paranoid_ that were blaring through the entire Penthouse.

"Guð minn góður!" Wide green eyes took in his surroundings, his good hand clutching the soft blanket while the arm constraint in the sling was keeping the tablet close.

Right. Stark's Penthouse. He must have fallen asleep on… Oh, more instruments seemed to join this infernal noise, hammering in his ears, and then… he heard a voice he could only describe as haunting. This was what mortals enjoyed as music? He did not bother listening what this haunted creature was singing, but turned his gaze towards the source of this abomination to his ears.

Stark was just standing in the kitchen, staring into emptiness, his head slightly moving with the rhythm of the _music_...

"J.A.R.V.I.S., tune it down at least 20%!" a female voice from the bedroom saved his eardrums, making him look up to the end of the stairs as Lady Pepper started descending them, this time already wearing high heels, and fiddling with something at hear ears.

The, for the lack of a better word, music, indeed was turned to a not-so-ear-straining level, making Loki sigh with relief.

"Sweets, I know you worship Ozzy, but he's not everybody's cup of tea at 7 a.m., at least not at your usual volume", she said, sharp heels clicking on the marble floor as she marched into the kitchen, finishing what she was doing with her ear and shaking her hair back in place.

Stark just hummed an inarticulate "Hmm", moving the cup in his hands towards his lips, only realizing that it was still empty when he had already tried drinking from it. With a sigh, he turned around to the coffee maker again, taking the pot out while it was still running, and helped himself to his first _full_ cup, downing half of the still scalding liquid with one big gulp that would have had every other person scream in pain at the temperature.

"Tell me again, why did we have to get up this early?" he asked then, directing his glance at the grinning woman right next to him, before snapping back to the baffled Demigod in his living room to frown at him.

"Hey, Lokes, don't you like your mattress, or what?"

Pepper's gaze followed the billionaire's, a soft smile appearing on her face as the God smoothened down his hair, still clutching the tablet. Motioning for J.A.R.V.I.S. to tune the music down even a bit more, she took in how one side of Loki's face still showed creases from the pillow.

"I… guess I fell asleep while reading the tales of your Mr. Kipling. I agree with you about feeling sorry for the tiger. Uhm… J.A.R.V.I.S. found the… e-book is the term, I believe, for me", the Demigod offered just as Ozzy was begging _Can you help me occupy my brain?!_

"Don't worry, oh God of Mischief, we won't tell anyone", she said with a smirk. "Do you want breakfast? Tony and me have to hit the road soon to go to the City Clerk Office and get our marriage license, and don't ask me why they are still up and running while the rest of the town is still in pieces. And then there's this tiny, completely unimportant thing called board meeting that I _have_ to attend and you promised to show up at least so that they can also see that you're still kicking", she said, turning towards the inventor.

Tony just took another sip from his cup. "Oh… right, that's why I told J.A.R.V.I.S. to wake us at _fuck-no!_ o'clock in the morning. I hope you meant Loki with the breakfast thing, though."

Pepper casually pushed his hand out of the way as he was done drinking and started working on his tie.

"Come on, I drag your sorry ass out of bed for more than 10 years now, I know that you don't do breakfast. I, however, need to eat something, otherwise I might go hypoglycemic during that meeting and kill one of these old men by chance."

Finishing the Windsor knot in record time, Pepper stole a quick kiss that tasted oh so alluringly like coffee, so she reached around him, trying to grab another cup and was caught in his embrace as he grinned at her.

"Oh, Miss Potts…"

"Oh, no, you will not lament your way out of the board meeting", she smiled as he tilted his head slightly up to peck her on the lips. Sometimes, he did not relish being smaller than her when she was wearing her high heels.

"I would be charming my way out of it, and I'm not because I already told you I would come. I have to go to R&D anyways, I had a few more ideas last night, it'll give them something to chew on for the next few weeks, even if it's a rather outdated design by now. What do you think about Hover cars?", the engineer replied after stealing another kiss and then letting Pepper out of his arms to get her well-deserved morning coffee.

Loki had stood up from the couch by now, carefully placing the once more black tablet onto the coffee table. Maybe J.A.R.V.I.S. could find him some more of these e-books to read later.

The smell of the beverage both Stark and Lady Pepper were nursing was alluring, and curiously enough, it made his stomach growl, so yes, breakfast would actually be nice. When he started on making his way over to the kitchen, he realized that he was barefoot, had been so already in the middle of the night, when his… when Frigga and Thor had arrived and assumed they could just drag him back to Asgard, now that Odin was asleep.

The floor was cold. He would have to look for some shoes if he would be staying here for longer… depending on how long Stark was allowing him to stay.

When he had reached the kitchen, Tony motioned for him to sit down and took Pepper's cup with the steaming beverage out of her hands before she could even smell it. That got him some pouty lips from his significant other who now started rummaging for another cup. At least they had enough coffee – if Tony could spare one of his three cups in the morning.

"Take it easy first, not everybody likes coffee, it's pretty bitter if you're having it black. You can add sugar and cream like Peps, or we also have tea here", the engineer explained while Pepper was adding exactly these ingredients to her coffee and then started raiding the fridge and some cupboards to prepare herself some granola.

She turned around with the first spoonful in her mouth just in time to see the Trickster pull a face after his first sip, and she couldn't help but smile.

"I guess Loki has a sweet tooth just like me, huh?" Shoving her yet untouched coffee into his direction she just smiled at him. "Here, try this. What do you want for breakfast?"

Coffee was indeed bearable the way Lady Pepper was drinking it. Tony was already pouring his second cup while running a hand over his face, trying to wake up a bit faster than normally.

"I… don't know. Maybe also some of the cereals you are eating… like yesterday."

Pepper threw him a confused look. Oh, yes, the day before she had asked him to join them for breakfast and then had just put a bowl and some milk in front of him because they were in a hurry. Obviously, he had liked it.

The woman just shrugged, turning around to get another bowl and prepare breakfast for the Demigod.

"We also still have pop tarts, J.A.R.V.I.S. really ordered a year's supply for Thor", the engineer smirked.

" _Considering the amount Mr. Odinson had for yesterday's breakfast and during his flying visit in the middle of the night, the amount I ordered will last for another week, Sir"_ , J.A.R.V.I.S. piped up.

"They taste… artificial. I will rather have the cereals", Loki said as he accepted the bowl and a spoon, waiting for Pepper and/or Tony to sit down next to him.

To his surprise, she put her bowl down next to the Demigod and grabbed the cup with coffee that he had sipped on and rejected before, added some sugar and some cream, and let out a contented sigh as she took her first gulp. Only then she did move around the counter, gracefully hopping up on the barstool there and started eating.

Tony kept watching them, both of them unconsciously tugging their hair back behind their ears every once in a while, spooning their granola into their mouths, Loki a bit stiffly, as normally he appeared to be favoring his right hand.

J.A.R.V.I.S. had turned to something less angry in Tony's playlists by now, creating a nice, easy on the ears background music. It was oddly comforting, watching those two people in front of him, sitting side by side, and peacefully eating.

If anyone would tell him that this man was the guy who had tried taking over the planet only a few days ago, Tony would have called that person an idiot. While Tony's clothes definitely would not only have been too short, but also too tight for the Demigod, he was nowhere near as bulky as Thor was, and as it had appeared under the layers of metal and leather of his armor.

His sheer length made the God appear thin and skinny, and now, that this haunted, driven look had somewhat disappeared from his features, he just looked incredibly young with his hair slightly tousled from sleep. A boy who had merely come of age, who had to find out that he had been lied to his entire life, who had been tortured by the people who claimed to love him.

It was somewhat ridiculous, thinking like that about the Trickster, an alien being who claimed to be older than a millennium – that was hardly a boy trying to cope with his life. Still, it seemed like he was desperately hoping, still hoping, after all this time, that somebody might finally tell him _why_ and help him.

Taking another sip from his cup, Tony took a deep breath. How come his thoughts did stray from warm and fuzzy to this?

Feeling watched, Loki lifted his eyes, tilting his head questioningly as the billionaire just kept watching him.

"Do not look at me like that. There is no need for you to pity me. I may have been the victim in this story, but there are other things that I did, and some of them are just as contemptible. Do your myths say anything about a God named Baldr?"

Tony straightened his posture slightly as he kept leaning on the kitchen counter, taking another sip of coffee before answering.

"Yeah. I guess the thing with the mistletoe was before your family was murdered. You denying to cry for him and grant him resurrection was afterwards, not caring if Ragnarök did finally come. Am I right, or am I right?" The engineer tilted his head at the Demigod now, ignoring Pepper's sharp look that told him to _shut the fuck up!_

Interestingly, Loki's expression changed, turned questioning and… hurt? Desperate? Lost? "Is there anything that is not written in your Norse mythology? All my failures? Everything I ever did?"

"I don't know. You'd have to read them, and to be honest, some parts made my stomach churn, so I'd rather have you stick to Kipling and J.R.R. Tolkien if you have to. Just stay away from that chick who decided that Vampires are now sparkling in sunlight instead of burning, those books will not be read under my roof."

Pepper sighed heavily next to Loki. "Why, for heaven's sake, should Loki want to read the Twilight saga? I mean, just in case that he does, J.A.R.V.I.S., recommend Anne Rice instead, but still…? And you hate Tolkien."

Tony just threw her a look.

"You watched the first two movies. You _made_ me watch them with you."

"Because I wanted to see what the hype was about. That wannabe oh-so-hot Vampire looked like a plucked chicken, and they animated his abs, for heaven's sake! Not to forget that they should have shaved his chest, sent him to workout for half a year, and then they should have replaced him _and_ that chick who can do exactly one facial expression, namely _I am a zombie_ , by Brad Pitt! He would have rocked that movie, sparkling or not."

"He's a fucking Vampire! Those don't sparkle! They combust! Ask Buffy! She's not called the Vampire-Slayer for nothing!"

Loki's eyes just flew between the mortals during their word match that had turned from his shortcomings to this… weird nonsense in under ten seconds. Were they doing this on purpose?

"What, by the Norns, are you talking about?!" he spoke up, feeling two pairs of eyes locking on him again.

Pepper tugged at a strand of her hair then, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Uhm… that's some books, movies and TV series about living dead creatures that live of blood. The rules say they do not have a reflection in mirrors, cannot stand garlic and crucifixes, and they combust in sunlight. One author decided a few years ago that Vampires ought to be totally different, not going into the sun because they sparkle, they are ethereally beautiful and some of them…"

"…are utterly lame", Stark finished her sentence. He had not consciously changed the topic, most of the time things like these just happened, and with Pepper knowing him so well and being fully capable of arguing with him, he more often than not got carried away. Scratching the back of his head, he sent Pepper a look.

"How come we always stray off topic in under ten seconds?"

"I don't know, but I am convinced it's your fault", she answered with a smirk, having the Demigod next to her snort amusedly.

"Aw, you're just mean. C'mon, Lokes, buddy, help me here!"

Leaning back on the barstool, Loki grabbed his mug and took in the scent, smiling at the engineer.

"If there is one thing that I have learned in being happily married for almost two centuries, it is that the Lady is always right, Stark."

He realized one second later what he had just said, his mind starting to overanalyze once more his feelings towards everything and everyone involved in this tragedy that his life had become so long ago.

"Oh, bummer, are you now also ganging up on me with her? J.A.R.V.I.S. is already doing that enough."

Stark's insensitivity actually made him smile, even though he was not quite sure whether the other man was not doing at least _this_ on purpose. Already two days ago when they had freed him of his improvised prison cell, it had been the other man who had steered the conversation back _on_ topic when they strayed too much into uncomfortable areas.

And if he was interpreting the mortal correctly, it was to say _Hey, it's okay that you were happily married and loved your wife and your life. What happened cannot be undone, but it's okay to feel good about what you had before._

" _Well, Sir, most of the time it is indeed that Lady that is right",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. piped up, making the three of them laugh, with Tony sighing an "I'm so screwed" that was betrayed by his own laughter.

His eyes found Pepper's as they were laughing, and she tilted his head at him, his laughter ebbing down and being replaced by a soft smile.

"Well, I guess we won't make it for two centuries, but I can live with you being right for the next 30 years or so?" he said, having Pepper smile back.

"What, no aiming for the golden anniversary? Anthony Edward Stark, I thought you to be more competitive", Pepper laughed back, digging back into her breakfast.

Only Loki saw Stark's smile fade a little, before the mortal was taking a deep breath and putting on the smile again.

"Well, I'll do my very best, Miss Potts. Though, you know, in the end you might have to do all of the work, because I'll be a 90 year old fart, deaf, and blind, and ugly."

Pepper just looked at him and shrugged. "So what? You'll be my old fart. And up to now you've been taking good care of me", she said, oblivious to the tiny, worried side glance the Demigod sent her now.

Tony on the other hand saw it, just as he had seen the glances every time he or J.A.R.V.I.S. had gone overprotective in the past two days.

"Uh, there's actually something Pepper and I wanted to tell you, Loki. Because I guess you'll be here for some time, and things will just get weirder around here than they have to be."

* * *

He had found her sitting right next to the entrance door to their bedroom only seconds after he realized why Pepper wanted Thor and his mother so desperately out of their home. Loki appeared calm enough, after all he had been living with this for centuries, still, Tony also felt bad for leaving him alone down there after just re-living what must have been the worst day in in life.

Pepper was more important, though. He did not even remember closing the door behind himself as he dropped to his knees right next to her, gathering her in a tight embrace, having her sob against his chest.

"Oh Sweetheart, I'm so sorry. If I'd known this would happen…"

Pepper just coiled into his arms, holding on for her dear life.

"They… he… did you hear…?" she gasped, tears wetting his shirt as he shifted his position, sitting down next to the weeping woman in his bedroom.

"Yeah. Hearing the story's definitely worse than reading what happened."

Lifting her head, she looked at the engineer with red-rimmed eyes. "How's Loki? They didn't take him with them, right? We're not going to let him alone with them! They're gone, I hope!"

Taking her head into his hands he wiped away some of the tears streaming down her face. "Yes, they are gone, and yes, he's still here. We talked a bit about his wife and prophecies before I realized why you kicked the God of Thunder and his Mom out of the Penthouse. If I'd known this would happen, I would have told them to leave."

"We would have found out, eventually. At least I hope we would have. I'm glad it happened", she sniffled then, making the engineer frown.

"Loki finally took a chance to tell his brother off. Have you seen Thor's face? He was shocked, and surprised, because obviously Loki always kept things like these to himself. It must be cathartic for him to tell them just how much they hurt him, how much of all of this bullshit is actually their fault, and not his…" She was hiccupping by now and wished she had something to blow her nose, so she slightly disentangled from Tony, running the back of her hand under it.

"Yeah. I'm not talking about that, though. I let two people who were actively participating in murdering children into my house and don't tell me you freaked because you felt so sorry for _our_ Demigod. Don't tell me you weren't thinking about Cell-heap, because in the moment he's all I can think about."

Bringing one hand down from her cheek he caressed over her belly in a somewhat weird angle and took in her red-eyed, snotty-nosed features, actually smiling a little as he thought that she still was _his_ red-eyed, snotty-nosed Goddess.

"Don't get me too riled up, Tony… I'll ask you to build an Iron baby crib and a squad of Iron Nannies that are heavily armed and could destroy a God to keep our Cell-heap save."

"What makes you think I don't have the blueprints already worked out in my mind, Sweetheart?" he asked, drawing her once again against his body. He could feel her shake, thinking that she was crying even heavier, but then he could hear her silent laughter.

"We really, really, _really_ need to come up with another name than Cell-heap, otherwise it will stick. Our poor boy will be mocked for his parents calling him a Cell-heap."

"Well, we could go for Ju-Junior", Tony stammered, leaning back on his heels to look at his soon-to-be wife who was sending him a questioning look.

"Junior? As in…?" she asked, one of her hands letting go off him to once more wipe away the wetness on her cheeks. Tony looked at her self-consciously.

"When… my Mom couldn't have any more children after me because something went wrong. I came too early and they messed up the C-section. Howard didn't give me a name until she was able to… they had not even discussed before, I guess. She named me after Anton Vanko, of all people. Where the Edward's coming from I don't know."

A hand reached out, touching his cheek, a thumb was caressing over his goatee.

"Anthony Stark jr. huh?

Tilting his head, Tony shrugged. It had just been a thought, a silent idea that had entered his mind as soon as they had declared for the first time that _Cell-heap_ was not the best name. Yes, he knew, he should not be naming anything, DUM-E and U were the best examples for that.

"You have veto-power, of course", he said, delighted as her features lightened under all these tears.

"Anthony Stark jr. I need to figure out a good middle name to join that", she smiled softly, waiting until also he started to smile.

When they finally managed to get up from the floor and into bed, her legs felt like ice-clumps and Tony actually shrieked a bit as she wound them around his, crawling close into his warmth.

"That's all your fault. Don't we have floor heating? Because that marble is nice, but fucking cold", she scolded him, making him snicker.

"You do know that you just called the Queen of Asgard Queen Mum, insulted Thor and his half-assed plan, called Asgard fairy-land, and said fuck three times in the same sentence out there, right?"

Wide pale-blue eyes looked at him as he got rid of his shirt and bathed the room in the light of the arc-reactor, drawing her closer. When her head finally rested against his shoulder, he let out a contented sigh.

"Oh my God, I did, didn't I?! I have to apol…"

"Nope, Sweetheart, you don't have to apologize. If the argument had continued for longer, I would have thrown them out, and believe me, I would have been just as diplomatic. And you should have seen Loki's face. I think it's been a really long time since anyone stood up for him against his family."

Snuggling closer and pulling the sheets up to cover them both, Pepper pressed her nose against his warm skin, inhaling deeply. He always faintly smelt of soap and coconut (and motor oil), and while she also liked his usual aftershave, this was the smell she would always connect with him, she would always recognize. In this game with Loki doubling for Tony she had only partly relied on what she would feel when she touched his chest, knowing that Loki did not know about the reactor. His smell, this tiny tinge of coconut…

"J.A.R.V.I.S., what is Loki doing in the moment? Is he alright?" she asked into the darkness, shifting with Tony as also he got comfortable.

" _Mr. Laufeyson has taken residence on the couch where he found your Stark Pad, Sir, and has started reading_ The Jungle book _as we speak. He furthermore has been asking for Miss Potts' condition as in the last two days both you and me have been fussing over her, Sir",_ the AI dutifully answered, having both humans in the bed sigh.

"And what did you tell him, J? Tony asked, suppressing a yawn. Finally, he was feeling ready to go to sleep.

" _That Miss Pott's condition was nowhere near fatal and just required special care."_

They were both quiet for a while, the engineer drifting into sleep, her voice sounding somewhat distant when she spoke again.

"Maybe we should tell him, Tony…"

He had to actually put some effort into opening his eyes again, blinking a few times before he could answer.

"Huh… what happened to the three months rule, Peps?"

"I just… think that he won't take it well if we keep behaving weird around him, and I guess he'll be staying for a while. His parents lied to him his entire life, his brother belittled and disappointed him for just as long. I don't… I don't want to lie to him or leave him in the dark, because he will grow suspicious immediately and assume things, and this will not end well", was her answer and he hummed softly. She had a point there.

"We also still have to tell DUM-E and U", Pepper smiled.

She just got another hum from Tony and was listening to his steady breathing as she also drifted off to sleep."

* * *

Tony tilted his head, looking at Pepper for some help, because, actually, _she_ had suggested to clue Loki in on their little secret.

Okay, so he had been half asleep, but his mind did function better in that state than when being half awake, and yes, he actually agreed with her.

His gaze shifted to the Demigod who, unlike Pepper, had stopped eating and was watching him. Since he obviously was not getting any support from his significant other, even thought it had been her idea, Tony took a deep breath and threaded the fingers of his hand that was not clutching the coffee cup through his hair, creating yet another _purely Tony_ style.

"Okay… so, uhm…actually it's a bit too early to tell anyone, and normally we wouldn't even have found out yet if J.A.R.V.I.S. and my tech were not so awesome..." His eyes were once more straying from the God of Mischief to Pepper, who now rolled her eyes.

"Very eloquent, Mr. Stark, but that's not exactly the point", she smiled around her spoonful of granola, having him purse his lips. So she really wanted him to struggle through this alone? Wrong person to deal with, baby.

"Okay, what else do you want me to say? Hey, Lokes, buddy, you know what? I knocked up my girlfriend during that one very fateful quickie in my Manhattan office ten days ago after barely having seen each other the six weeks before because of me getting that tower to work and her setting up that wind park in California and dealing with those nosy politicians in D.C. Oh, and now we're telling you, because J.A.R.V.I.S. and me are both getting overprotective and we don't want you to think we're plotting against you when actually we're feeding Peps her pre-natal vitamins and deal with food cravings."

Two sets of eyes were directed at him, opened wide as he rambled. Loki was still confusedly looking at him when Pepper was already hiding her face in her hands.

"I asked for that… I so had this coming", she muttered. "Very diplomatic, Tony."

"Since when am I known for being diplomatic? And the way he is looking at me he didn't really get what I wanted to tell him."

"Well, I don't think Shakespeare did use words like _knocked up_ or _quickie_ when he inspired the Asgardian way of talking."

"Then would you please enlighten me what you are actually trying to tell me that is so important?" Loki asked, interrupting before this conversation escalated once more into a word match that had absolutely nothing to do with the topic they had been discussing before.

This time, Tony sent Pepper a pointed look. She smiled when she was directing her gaze from her fiancée to the Demigod next to her.

"I am pregnant, Loki. 10 days along. Normally we would not have found out, yet, it's way too early, and normally, we wouldn't tell anyone until we reached the three months mark, because then it's less likely for me to… lose the baby. But you have noticed that both Tony and J.A.R.V.I.S. are protective, we didn't want you to think that something was wrong, and we didn't want to lie to you."

Before Loki could answer anything to this news, Tony was addressing him again.

"And we don't want you to think that we are helping you only because of this. Yes, it is one of the reasons. But after all we learned, we'd help you even if there was no Cell-heap."

Pepper snorted. "We agreed on Junior last night, Tony."

The engineer bit his lower lip. "Uhm… I feel like we should rehearse this once more before we tell DUM-E and U that they'll get a baby-brother. Could you please un-knit your eyebrows, Loki? This is good news. And you still have 9 months before you have to show me how to change a diaper."

This indeed made the steep furrow between those elegant black brows disappear, a confused expression appearing on the Demigod's face.

"Ni-Nine months?"

"Yeah… that's usually as long as it takes for human kids to be born. Normally we'd have found out in two or three weeks when Pepper would freak out about being late, but since J.A.R.V.I.S. is as awesome as I made him, we figured it out three days ago when…"

"…I tried to invade your planet…" Loki finished his sentence, placing his spoon next to his half-empty bowl.

Pepper nudged him, locking her eyes with him. "Thanos tried to invade our planet. You saved our asses, don't forget that all the time. You could actually show Tony how to change a diaper, right? I'm somehow afraid he'll build a machine for that purpose."

"Hey, you didn't have any problems with me wanting to build Iron Nannies, but you don't want me to leave the stinky parts to a machine? We could sell it, we'll be incredibly rich! Oh, boy, maybe I'll finally make baby bottles and… what else did I tell that reporter chick, J.A.R.V.I.S.?"

"You told her that you'd make bricks and beams for baby hospitals, and we are already incredibly rich, Babe. And if you ever mention Christine Everheart again in my presence, you'll be sleeping on the couch, my Love", Pepper grouched into his direction. She hated that person with every fiber of her heart. Part of it may be because she was one of the many women she had thrown out of his bedroom… and actually she had been the last she had thrown out before…

"Oh, no no no no no, Peps, don't go there. I'm sorry I mentioned her…" Tony interrupted her thoughts that were turning to that very fateful morning before he had left for Afghanistan.

"Before you stray off topic once more, may I offer you my congratulations? And what makes you assume that I will still be around nine months from now?" Loki interrupted with a faint smile. He was indeed surprised that both mortals were considering his feelings enough to go against one rule that appeared to be quite common concerning procreation on Earth. And yes, he had been wondering what all the fuss about Lady Pepper was about. And of course, his weird mind had made it into something bad, into some illness, instead of something joyful that made both the Man of Iron and his Lady Pepper smile warmly at each other.

Tony just shrugged. "I'm not assuming anything. If you're still there, then you're still there. And if you're sleeping on the couch all the time, then Peps can't make me sleep there" he grinned, making the Norse God snort amusedly.

"The bed you offered me is also very comfortable. I just…"

"Hey, you don't have to explain why you rather sleep there. You don't wanna know how often I fell asleep in my workshop and Pep found me there."

"Yeah, I will never forget how I found you torso-deep in the Bentley, thinking the engine had crushed you, while DUM-E was happily chirping, holding that thing like three inches over your back. My heart almost stopped while you were snoring away."

"I don't snore."

"I had J.A.R.V.I.S. record it. You do. How can one snore while lying on his belly?"

"I do not snore. Snoring's not cool."

Green eyes followed them as in a tennis match, the faint smile growing a bit wider. "I do have a feeling that life around the two of you will not be dull."

"Yah, dull doesn't come in a package with Anthony Stark. The first time I was bored I invented a vacuum robot. Our butler almost had a heart attack back then, but once he got used to it, he liked S.N.I.F.F.Y.."

While Pepper echoed an amused "S.N.I.F.F.Y.?", Loki repeated the name Anthony.

"How many names do you mortals usually have?" he asked, getting a raised eyebrow in return from both the engineer and the redhead.

"How many…? Oh… ah… okay, my official, legal name is Anthony Edward Stark, Tony is an abbreviation. And the name of this angelic being right next to you is Virginia Potts. Pepper's a nickname I gave her when she knocked out my bodyguard with pepper spray to show me an accounting mistake I deliberately made to test my accountant's department. It somehow stuck."

Years ago Pepper might have blushed at the _angelic being_. Now she just rolled her eyes and muttered an _apple-polisher_ behind another spoonful of granola.

"Hey, you're Royalty, right? Here on earth they have like eight first names like _Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester._ What abomination did your parents onto you and Thor?" Tony rambled on, feeling like he was finally awake.

There was it again, this steep furrow between these huge green eyes.

"I am just Loki", the Demigod said. He used to be an Odinson, Silvertongue, Skywalker, Liesmith and Laufeyson… but all of this either never really applied for him, or he did not feel like it anymore. Before any of the mortals could say anything to backpedal, he added: "And Thor is just Thor. We do not have this tradition with the multiple names, Anthony."

Emptying his cup with one last big gulp Tony managed to not evade the Demigod's glance. He had noticed the almost unnoticeable stuttering every time Loki was calling him Tony. If he was more comfortable with his full name, why not?

J.A.R.V.I.S.'s silent beeping tone announced his intention to speak up before he actually did.

" _Sir, Mr. Hogan has arrived and is waiting in the garage. Clean up efforts have been finished concerning the Chitauri corpses and some of the roads are free again. Greenpeace has been approached for help with the Leviathans, they suggested opening the bodies to avoid the explosion of those corpses. I am currently re-routing the salvaged metal plating from Jonah's whale to one of Stark Industries' storage halls."_

"Great, buddy. See if you can get your hands on some of the Chitauri before they cremate all of them. And see if you can also get the armor plating of the other whale thingies." Tony turned around for another quick cup of coffee, finding the pot empty.

"Jonah's whale? Do I want to know that story?" Pepper inquired, and also Loki threw him a curious look.

"Well… the lasers didn't cut through the plating, so… I kind of destroyed it from within? J.A.R.V.I.S. was not amused."

Crossing her arms, the redhead was still looking at him. "You flew into one of… you know what? I don't want to know it, I guess these animals are actually easier to destroy from within. Just don't fly any more nukes into outta space."

"I never wanted to fly nukes into outta space to begin with. I'm still pissed that the World Security Council wanted to nuke New York, not caring that they would have killed millions of people where the Chitauri managed to off only maybe a few hundred before we stopped them."

When Loki kept staring at the engineer, Tony sighed. "Yeah. We humans are pretty good in annihilating our own kind. Peps and I have to go now. If you need anything, just ask J.A.R.V.I.S.. You also can reach Pepper or me via him. You're free to do whatever you want, buddy, just don't stray into my workshop… I blow myself up in there enough, no need to put you in danger."

Loki just nodded slowly before picking up his spoon again. Maybe he would ask J.A.R.V.I.S. for some shoes afterwards.

* * *

This time it was a knock on the door that woke him. How come he was always sleeping lately? He found himself in _his_ guestroom in the bed, hugging one of the pillows to his chest, covered by the soft blanket up to his ears.

He had come in here because he wanted to change into some regular clothes, not intending to spend the rest of the day in the silky pajamas. Sitting down on the bed obviously had been a mistake.

J.A.R.V.I.S. must have tinted the windows as it was dark, and briefly he was wondering if he had imagined the knock on the door, burying his nose against the pillow again.

It knocked again, hesitantly, and he could hear the engineer's voice saying his name. Why couldn't they let him sleep? He was so tired, barely keeping himself from sending the other man away.

It knocked a third time, and this time, the door was slowly opened, Tony sticking his head in through the crack.

"Hey, Lokes, I'm sorry to wake you, but there's some things that came up in the last few hours…"

Loki tiredly ran a hand over his face, rubbing his eyes while Tony let himself into the room, leaving the door open behind him, illuminating the man from behind. Lifting himself into a half-sitting position, the Demigod ran a hand over his hair, smoothing the slight bedhead.

"How… how long have I been sleeping?" He was used to how time was passing on Asgard – or in the Void. Nothing ever happened fast there. Nothing compared to the fast pace things were happening on Midgard. He was wondering what the matter was now.

"It's pretty late in the afternoon already. I've been back for two hours now. I figured you didn't get much rest while under Thanos' reign so I let you sleep." Tony sighed, sitting down on the edge of the large bed, also running a hand over his face.

"What ails you, Anthony? It appears that I am not the only one being exhausted."

Taking a deep breath, the mortal looked at him. "I am confronting some really powerful people while trying to help… and don't look at me like that, Loki, it's the right thing to do. However, you're not the only one they're after…"

Sighing once more, the engineer threw a quick glance at the open door, before turning back to Loki.

"I wanted to ask you if it was okay if we moved you upstairs into the room next to Pepper's and mine."

Loki didn't even need to open his mouth and ask why. His entire face was a question mark.

"I… well, I actually thought that the military was finally done with Bruce after what had happened four years ago in Harlem, but he'd only managed to stay off their radar just until now. I was wrong. They think they are subtle, but there's more and more of them arriving, gathering around the tower. J.A.R.V.I.S. spotted General Ross, and when I told Bruce it took some effort to…"

"Calm the monster down?" Loki asked, astonished when he got a sharp look as answer.

"Bruce is as much a monster as I am. And no, it took some effort to talk him out of leaving. I owe him my life, Loki, and I would be a hypocrite helping you while I'm not trying to help him." Standing up from the bed, Stark threw the Demigod another look.

"Bruce will move up into the Penthouse, and I thought that you'd like to not have the room right next to him."

When he turned to leave, Loki cleared his throat, making him stop without taking even the first step.

"I… I am sorry, Anthony. I did not intend to insult your friend."

"He is not a monster, okay? He's been through a lot, he's been on the run almost constantly for the last ten years, and believe me, Ross made it a man-hunt, intending to dissect him instead of doing tests, assuming him to be nothing more than a monster. I don't know him well enough to call him my friend, but if the Hulk had not decided that he liked the tin-man, I would be dead now, because the suit was offline and I was unconscious when falling from the portal. I'm bargaining for his freedom in the moment, and I guess it's gonna cost me, but…"

Lowering his eyes, Loki fisted his good hand. Oh, what a hypocrite he was himself, calling the other man a monster, while he himself was the biggest abomination in the tower. Yes, he was weary of the Hulk, because the creature had shown him that he was not invincible. He did not know the man behind the green guy, though.

"I am sorry", he whispered again, and it took some effort to look at Stark. "Don't put yourself out on my account. I can handle being in a room right next to… uhm… B-Bruce."

"If you feel more comfortable with it, call him Dr. Banner. And I would feel better if you moved upstairs, to be honest. I do like Bruce, and usually he's a calm guy, but I do not entirely trust in all those anger management methods he's indulging in. And actually, I'm gonna need all three rooms down here. I just hope it was no mistake to call Pepper's parents and her brother."

Loki by now had sat up completely in the bed and J.A.R.V.I.S. had increased the illumination.

"Why would it be a mistake? I suppose you invited them for the wedding? Or is it a tradition here on earth to celebrate without the family?" This time it were Stark's eyes that fixed on some point on the floor.

"They are not really close, you know. She has met them only twice in all the years that I know her, and I think they somehow cut her out of their lives. I just thought… well… at least she still does have some family, so I gave it a try. Her brother said yes almost immediately. The Mom was a bit harder to crack. I guess they will drag Dad along. I sent my jets over this morning to fetch them, they should arrive in the evening."

"Lady Pepper will be delighted", Loki offered while swinging his long legs out from under the blanket.

Tony chuckled. "Yeah, well, if she isn't, you'll have to share that couch with me", he said, getting a tiny laughter from the Trickster God.

"Anthony, about before…"

"Hey, don't worry. He doesn't have to become your best friend, okay? But he's a nice guy, and he almost had a nervous breakdown yesterday because he obviously pounded an injured and mentally abused you into my marble floor. Don't be too hard on him about it, ok?"

Loki once more couldn't help the astonished look that appeared on his face and was directed on the engineer. Tony, however, had already turned around, the look thus only reaching his back, and started opening some drawers to take out Loki's spare clothing.

"Oh man, we'll have to shop some more stuff for you", he muttered while the Demigod still wondered about the fact that obviously Dr. Banner was remorseful of having hurt him. Mortals really were most peculiar.

"Why are you helping me, Anthony?" he whispered, too quietly for the mortal to hear him. Oh, how he wanted to see this as some selfless gesture of a man who was helping him because it was the right thing to do. But concerning Loki, everything good that had ever been done to him, always came with a price tag. And most of the time, it cost him more than he could afford.

Tony had gathered what little belongings God of Mischief had accumulated in the dresser in the past two days and turned around, finding Loki still watching him.

"You wanna change? Or you wanna go on sleeping? Then I'll just show you the room. Oh, and is there any way to contact Thor? I know that he's a persona non grata around Peps in the moment, but she'll come around eventually, and we really have to discuss how to go on. Can we let him know that he should come back in two or three days or are we just waiting until he pops up here again?" Tony asked while unintentionally sending Loki's mind back to a time when he caught Sigyn trying to wash his clothes for the first time.

He was the second Prince of Asgard, for the Norns' sake, he came with servants to do whatever necessary in this household – and had to learn that around her parents this had been one of her chores, after all, she was not doing anything else to benefit them. He had never thought little of the people running these works in the palace, but as _his wife_ she definitely was above washing his clothes.

Still, somewhere deep inside it had stirred something warm and cozy as she was standing there, clothes piled up in her arms, frowning at him as if his question what she was doing there was just plain stupid.

Some fingers snapped in front of his face made him blink confusedly, his mind returning to the present time, the inventor in front of him throwing him a worried look.

"You alright? Maybe we should have someone look you over, if the Hulk didn't do some bigger damage to your brain… stupid thing is that the only one with something close to a medical degree is Bruce, so…"

"I am fine, Anthony", Loki waved him off.

"Nope, you've been completely out of it for a moment", Tony replied, dark hazel eyes locking on the Demigod.

"You have just been asking me four questions in one sentence. Are you always this impatient to wait for answers?"

Tony just shrugged. "Well, when I'm not entirely sure that my conversation partner is having a seizure while he's looking straight through me… Ah, screw that, I've never been patient. So. Change? Or sleep? How can I contact Thor?"

"I will tell Heimdall to forward your message to him, if you allow me to leave your building. And I would like to get changed. I have slept enough for the time being."

Tony threw him a weird look. "Okay… just to make that clear: There's not anything for me to allow you. You decide what you wanna do. You are not my prisoner or hostage, you do not even have to feel obliged to stay if you don't want to, Loki."

God of Lies or not, Loki had not always been able to look behind the schemes, the plans others had made for him. He did not know by default if a person was lying or not, especially if he did not know this person well. Once more, however, the Man of Iron sounded more sincere than anyone he had ever met. His eyes locked with the other man.

"Where else would I go to, Anthony?"

* * *

Bruce had awkwardly sat at the counter in the kitchen, sipping some tea as Tony and Loki finally emerged from the guest room and ascended the stairs.

Tony came back down rather quickly, again, ordering J.A.R.V.I.S. to buy more clothes, underwear and shoes for the Demigod, instructing the AI to include their guest from the other realm into the actual process of decision making rather than simply ordering stuff just because Tony said _Loki needs more clothes_.

"He looks better", Bruce stated, watching the inventor pouring himself a cup of coffee, leaning back onto the furniture right next to the coffee machine, mirroring the same position he had acquired already in the morning at breakfast.

Tony just nodded. In the past two days he had figured out that while Loki was pale, his skin almost as porcelain, it had taken a more rosy hue after the conference with the world leaders was over. He did not look like an anemic ghost anymore.

"He looks completely different without his armor", the physicist stated then, having Tony hum once more. Yeah. Tall and lanky and not as beefy as he looked under his armor, even though he still was more broad-chested than either Tony or Bruce. His height made him look that lanky, and with his hair falling into his face all the time rather than being slicked back Tony couldn't help thinking once more about this boy, just having come of age, trying to take what the universe was throwing at him.

"Uhm… Tony?"

The engineer looked up from his cup, watching the physicist. "Sorry, Bruce. I'm not really talkative today. J.A.R.V.I.S. is hunting down the minister of Defense as we're speaking, I hope he can put a leash on Ross."

Closing his fingers around his mug of Chamomile tea, the other man just continued watching the engineer.

"Why won't you just let me go, Tony? It's way easier. I've dodged Ross multiple times, and he still owes me for not killing him when they set Blonsky after me."

At that Tony snorted. Yeah. As if the General would stick to owing the Hulk this favor. "Because it will only get worse, Bruce. Ross flipped me off when I approached him four years ago about the Avengers Initiative because…"

"Because the Hulk is all but reliable, Tony. Please, do not read too much into him helping during the invasion. I came to New York because I thought he might help. I was not entirely sure of the outcome, though. He might as well have smashed all of you, had the aliens not been more annoying."

The physicist squirmed under Tony's gaze that was telling him _BULLSHIT!_

"He _saved_ me, Bruce. I would be a smear on the pavement of not for him. Let me be grateful, will you? There're not many people willing to save me from anything, most of them would laugh at me for falling on my face."

Bruce sighed at that, his eyes unconsciously drifting to the upper end of the stairwell as Tony took another gulp from his cup, finding Loki standing there, the Demigod's gaze directed at Tony with an intensity that astonished the other man. He was clad in some black jeans and a white t-shirt, the sling still holding his right arm immobilized.

"He likes you", Bruce offered then, taking his eyes off the Demigod who was now starting to descend the stairs. "I almost hulked out when Fury ordered us to go against you and Steve was briefly contemplating it. You make weird friends, Tony. Up to now the only person he liked was Betty." The physicist tried to say this lightly but could not help the sad tone in his voice as he said her name. Almost four years. He still remembered that time when he had been in Brazil, even there everybody had talked about Tony Stark having been kidnapped. Three months later, he had made his miraculous escape. And three months after that, the Arc reactor prototype had malfunctioned and Iron Man had stepped out of the shadows. Everybody was talking about the engineer, you could not even evade that in the favela he currently was residing in. Everything he knew about the other man stemmed from what was thrown at you by the tabloids and the impression he made in the past days. He received two very different views of the man when comparing what the press told you and what his gut was telling him.

Tony shrugged. "Well, can't be picky having as few friends as I have. I still owe you a trip to Candyland, right?"

At that, Bruce smiled. "You were really serious when offering me a job, huh? Are you collecting stray dogs, too?"

Tony laughed at that. "Nope, I'm rather a cat person, I guess. And it's Pepper who's collecting the strays. How do you think me and that one ended up here?" He was pointing his thumb at Loki over his shoulder, eliciting a small snort from the physicist, while Loki just sported a confused look.

"I will not work for you, Anthony", Loki pointed out, making the engineer laugh.

"Damn, and I thought I could put you up with all my legal department… my lawyers cost a fortune and still make mistakes. It's their fault that I had to endure all the BS when the government wanted to confiscate my suits and I had to proclaim it was some prosthetics. Thank God I'm rich, otherwise I'd also be constantly on the run. Not sure my heart could take that."

The moment he had said this he knew it had been a mistake. Loki's eyes were on him, while Bruce's wandered down to his chest briefly.

J.A.R.V.I.S.'s soft beeping tone saved him, announcing that Pepper had arrived and was on her way up to the Penthouse.

Bruce and Loki shared a quick look as the engineer's face lit up, both of them sure that he was as grateful for the distraction because he did not want to explain his slip of tongue from before as he was for actually seeing the woman he loved. He was sauntering over to the elevator, well knowing but still somehow forgetting that both men were still watching him as he grabbed a startled Pepper, kissing her mouth and greeting her with a "Hello, wifey-poo", before bowing down on a whim to kiss her belly, announcing a "Hey, Junior!"

He startled when Pepper smacked her briefcase on top of his head, and only now he realized that his significant other was fuming. "Ow, Peps, what…"

Raising his arm he blocked another smack with the briefcase. "You fired Manlow! This man has handled the press for the last eight years for you, and only because of him your fling with that waiter who was taking pictures of you in positions that would make the author of the Kama Sutra frown in confusion didn't make it to the tabloids! How…"

"What did he say?" Tony interrupted her, his face suddenly more than stern as he straightened his back again. If it caught Pepper off-guard, she didn't let it show, though.

"To ask you, because he told me he really doesn't have a clue! He's been working for Stark Industries for eight years and he's been doing a good job, and you don't even think it's necessary to inform me when…"

"He knew about the video, Pep." Tony interrupted her, ready to dodge another smack that never came as Pepper was watching him wide-eyed.

"The… the vid…? The… video…" she stuttered, hand with the briefcase still elevated. "The one that I found… when…?"

"The one the Ten Rings sent Stane when they figured out who exactly they had been paid to kill. The one you found on the SI server." Grabbing the briefcase Stark lowered her arm.

"B-But… why… when…?"

"The same day Obi got it. He saved it on the server and Manlow stumbled over it. And instead of helping me he decided to blackmail Stane." By now Tony had put the briefcase to the floor with Pepper standing in front of him, arms limply hanging down next to her body. She had turned incredibly pale in the past ten seconds.

"And you knew about it?" she then asked, her eyes tearing up as she realized that once more she had thought he would just pull one stupid stunt instead of asking him why he was doing what he was doing.

On the other hand, he also could have told her right away, without all the secretiveness.

"J.A.R.V.I.S. figured it out. I know I should have told you, but… I already dragged you into the thing with Stane and I didn't want you anywhere close to these fuckers."

"Wait. There's more than one who knew…? Miller." Oh. Now it finally made sense that his Chief of security had been fired two years ago because of stealing office equipment. More names made it to her mind, more people who had had to leave Stark Industries for reasons that Tony normally overlooked, like bagging paper clips.

"Alberts and Zane, too. I'm still working on Reese", Tony admitted. How the cook of the canteen had gotten wind of Stane wanting to off him was beyond him. Yet, none of those who knew tried to help. They all wanted to use it for their personal advantage.

"I hope the reason you fired Manlow is bulletproof. Otherwise I have to blow up yet another reactor", Pepper grouched by now.

"He was leaking stuff to the media, J.A.R.V.I.S. has all the proof we need. I can hardly go there and tell him that I know that he knows that my business partner hired some terrorists to get rid of me and then hoped I would die in that cave in Afghanistan when all I did was denying that most of the stuff ever happened… and we don't want anyone to start digging around to figure out what happened to Stane."

By now Pepper growled. "He deserved everything that happened to him."

By now the inventor caught her face in his hands, making her look at him. "Yes. He does. But if anyone ever investigates… if not for S.H.I.E.L.D…. Pep, I'd go to jail..."

"No."

"Pep…"

"No. I blew up the reactor. And I would do it again!" Her eyes were still focused on his, furiously blinking away tears. "Why didn't you… tell me? You promised to tell me everything, you promised to not leave me in the dark anymore. I have access to all the data from S.H.I.E.L.D. and yet you would not tell me that there are…" trailing off, she just looked at him, tears spilling over, silently running down her cheeks, staining them with her mascara, making her think that this was already the second time this day that she was crying. In the middle of the night she was mourning what had happened to Loki. And now she was once more reminded what other people were doing to the man she loved.

Stark was resting his forehead against hers, having her bow her head instinctively as she was taller than him, still dressed in her business outfit with the killer heels.

"Because I don't want you to blow up another reactor. You shouldn't have had to blow up the first one to begin with just because I chose to trust the man who more or less raised me." His thumbs were caressing away the tears, cursing himself for making her cry, once again, for him, over him?

"Can we please not talk about him… I think I need to sit down", Pepper announced, feeling slightly dizzy. Tony's arms instantly went around her as he guided her to the couch.

"Are you okay? J.A.R.V.I.S.? Is everything alright?" the inventor asked his AI, his gaze briefly stopping at the two men in his kitchen that were sending them wide-eyed looks. Shit. He more or less forgot that both of them where there.

It took a few seconds until the AI answered: " _I cannot detect anything out of the ordinary, Sir. I suppose it is a reaction to the stress and the reminiscence of the events with the late Mr. Stane."_

Loki and Bruce had made their way to the couch by the time Tony and Pepper got there, the Demigod stopping behind it, throwing Lady Pepper a worried glance. The physicist made his way around it, removing her shoes as he moved her legs up on the couch while Tony sat down right next to her, Pepper leaning onto him.

Grabbing her wrist, Bruce checked her pulse, asking casually: "How far along are you?"

* * *

Pepper looked at Tony questioningly as Bruce was taking her pulse. They had agreed on telling Loki, not on spreading the news to everybody in the tower. Tony just frowned, his gaze wandering from Pepper to Bruce and back.

"You just greeted her by kissing her stomach and saying _hey, Junior_ , Tony _._ It doesn't need a rocket scientist to figure out what's going on. So, how far along, and have you been dizzy before?" Bruce said in a no-nonsense tone.

"Uhm… no, I have not, and I don't think it's the baby, yet… It's only been ten days, you know… J.A.R.V.I.S., is our baby boy alright?" Her hand that was not in Bruce's grip had found Tony's as she addressed the voice in the ceiling.

Bruce threw both of them a look. Tony just shrugged. "We know the day when I scored because both of us are so busy that it's the only possibility for me to knock her up. J, please say something."

" _I am still scanning, Sir. It appears that ecto-, endo- and mesoderm are forming normally."_

"Your AI has scanners that can distinguish… You already know that it's gonna be a boy, huh? What resolution do your scanners have?" The physicist appeared impressed, his eyes locking on the engineer.

Tony was scratching his head, his gaze flickering from Bruce, to Pepper, and then to Loki whose free hand was resting on the back of the couch.

"Well… We're not at a base pair resolution, yet, but J.A.R.V.I.S. and I are working on it. Chromosomes are easy, and the Y is not that hard to make out."

"You can tell the gender of the baby this early? We did not know we were having twins until Narvi made his appearance." Loki had asked this the same second as Bruce announced a "You have medical scanners that can go beyond nuclear resolution and we are still struggling with X-ray machines in the rest of the world?!"

Before Tony or Pepper could answer, the Demigod and the physicist looked at each other, asking a "You have kids?" and "What is an X-ray machine?" simultaneously.

Running a hand over his face, Tony chuckled slightly. "Bruce, I have learned the hard way that the world is not ready yet for most of the things I invent. Most of the time, I'm ahead of everything, and when people are not afraid, they are confused or accusing me of using tricks. When they found out about my armor and couldn't rebuild it they figured that I was to give them the blueprints because I should not be the only one who was allowed to have it. My scanners are still too much Star Trek. And yes, Loki, my scanners can tell the gender already now. I don't know how it's on Asgard, but here us humans have 22 pairs of regular chromosomes, and one pair that, among other things determines the sex, that's either XX for girls or XY for boys. Everybody else has to wait until the kid grows the right parts and is correctly positioned during an ultrasound to tell."

"And I did not even have to pee on a stick to figure out that I was pregnant", Pepper piped up, having her soon-to-be husband smile at her. One quick side glance told him that he had lost the God of Mischief somewhere in his explanation of chromosomes and ultrasounds.

Tony's hand found her cheek again. "I'm sorry for not telling you, and for not being there at the meeting when it was announced. I didn't think I would have to run interference for Bruce here. Do the guys in R&D even know that I'm still their boss?"

Removing her hand from Bruce's soft grip, Pepper dared to sit up under three scrutinizing glances, suddenly feeling the urge to tell the men that she was not terminally ill, just… oh, how cliché was that?

"You send them 20 new ideas per weeks and 5 new blueprints per month. Those guys love you." And actually, Tony was one of the few Department leaders that she did get very few complaints about. Yes, he was there rarely, and also did not always answer his emails right away. On the other hand, this made the guys think on their own, and if it really mattered, Tony was there.

That got her a really astonished look from her significant other.

"Come on, you made R&D like Candyland; it's a wonder they leave the building every now and then", Pepper smiled, once more leaning in to rest her forehead against his.

"Are there any more people who know of the video and Stane?" she then asked.

Tony sighed deeply. "Not that I know of. J.A.R.V.I.S. found irregularities in his bank account and that Stane rerouted money. The rest was easy." He did not mention how much it hurt, to figure out that people he had to trust with his life, more or less, would stab him in the back for money. He always thought that he was treating his employees well, Stark Industries offered conditions you rarely found, and it had been already like this when he was still producing weapons. Finding out about his chief of security, or his PR manager definitely had not done anything to deal with his trust issues.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., you will let also me know if you find any more, do you hear me?" her eyes flickered to the ceiling, like everybody who was addressing the AI. Closing her eyes again, she sighed. "You don't have to do everything alone, Tony."

Before Tony could answer, Bruce was clearing his throat. "Uhm… I hate interrupting your _Days of our lives_ impersonation, but could anyone show me my room before Tony starts crying and declares his undying love?"

That made both the billionaire and his CEO separate and throw an astonished glance at the other man. The engineer burst into a loud laughter when he saw Loki's confused look. This was how you interrupted their shows of affection and weird conversations? You just… interrupted them?

"You could learn a thing or two from Brucie, here, huh, Lokes?"

The Demigod was scratching his head with his free hand. "I suppose", he answered then, making the three other people in the room laugh, and for the first time in a long time it did not feel as if anyone was laughing at him, so he smiled.

Taking another deep breath, Pepper sat up entirely now, her hand placed on Tony's thigh.

"Okay, how about you take the boys to Candyland, show them around a bit. I'll get rid of my business gear and then join you to tell the bots about their little brother, hmm? Oh, and when did you want to tell me that you invited my parents for our wedding?"

She was still smiling at him, and it was not a forced smile, he had learned to distinguish these from the real ones in the past two years they had spent together. He just tilted his head.

"The pilot called Happy, and you know Happy cannot keep any secret from me."

"You're not mad, right?"

"No. If my Dad misbehaves, though, you'll share the couch with him."

Loki huffed. "It will be very crowded on that couch then, I guess…"

This time it was only Tony that laughed, winking at Loki about their very own insider joke, while Bruce and Pepper sent them confused looks.

"Oh, it definitely won't be dull in here, I guess", Bruce stated, getting up from the couch.

"So. Candyland?"

The physicist just threw him a glance. "Positions that would have the author of the Kama Sutra frown in confusion?" was all he wanted to know. All Tony did, was shrug.

"What can I say? The guy was gorgeous, and I was way more flexible back then."


	10. Life breath

_**Chapter 10: Life Breath**_

 _The man who can keep a secret may be wise, but he is not half as wise as the man with no secrets to keep. (Edgar Watson Howe)_

* * *

It had truly felt like Candyland for Bruce, oohing and aahing over the machines and prototypes Tony had dispersed in his workshop. The physicist was also a bit taken aback, for how neat and clean Tony's workspace had looked on the helicarrier, while here it sort of looked like an organized chaos that only the person who had caused it was able to overlook.

Tony let him stroll off after a few minutes, vaguely sure that the other man would not blow himself up, absolutely sure that his inventions were save with him. Bruce was not that kind of guy. At least he hoped so.

Loki had followed Tony like a wide-eyed child, keeping his distance to everything mechanical. He was curious, more than that, but he did not know what half of the things in here… oh, let's be honest, what most of the things in here were able to do. He was sure he could figure out most of the machines in here in no time at all, given the fact that Anthony was amenable to explain them.

His eyes strayed to the suits of armor that were on display in one corner of this huge room, behind a cage made of glass, as if they were just for that, being on display, and not for use. He could still see the scratches and dents on the one Tony had climbed out of when coming to the Penthouse to talk… to reason… to threaten him and the Demigod was actually wondering what had happened that the suit was that badly damaged. After all, it had withstood a fight with Thor and multiple hits with Mjolnir rather unscathed.

A beeping sound and Anthony's voice made him spin around.

"DUM-E, you put this fire extinguisher down this second! First off, it's not a weapon, not that I want you to use anything as a weapon, and secondly, Loki's a good guy, you got me?!"

Anthony was scolding a machine about his own height with a long arm that spotted three fingers at the end, a camera mounted there for resembling an eye. It was holding a red can, pointing it at the Demigod, making an almost disappointed noise as the engineer forbid it to use the device. Another machine was wheeling closer, similar, slightly smaller, more sophisticated, as if it was an evolved version of the first, making another beeping sound.

"Yeah, U's right, you've been just grounded for using the fire extinguisher too extensively. I built you to learn, DUM-E, will you ever?"

Loki by now was really wondering whether the mortal was really able to understand both machines. Especially after the noise that sounded utterly sad when DUM-E lowered its claw and the red can was clattering to the floor. When it was turning away, it was the engineer who reacted in a way he would never have thought.

"I'm sorry, buddy… that was uncalled for. I know you can only learn as fast as my programming lets you, and yes, actually, fire extinguishers are fun." The brunette was reaching out and _petting_ the machine that made another sound, while U started circling around Loki, making the Demigod frown at the robot, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"A-Anthony…" U was coming closer, the claw reaching out to touch the Demigod as he took a step back.

"Oh, come on, U, leave Loki alone. Seriously, kids, we have to practice that. I know that you know how to behave!"

Taking another step back Loki realized that he was in the same space where J.A.R.V.I.S. had diced the table to prove a point. While he had been curious before, suddenly he did no longer feel very comfortable in the workshop.

"They're just curious, Lokes. You're included in _Protocol Guardian_ which means they won't hurt you. DUM-E douses me every now and then because I think he finds it funny. And U always wants to touch things." Stark still had not removed his hand from the larger robot's… head? and was softly caressing it.

U made an offended beep and wheeled himself back, away from Loki who was still frowning when Stark's gaze strayed from his face to the glass doors behind them.

Pepper had changed into flats, a pair of comfortable jeans and Tony's dress shirt that he had worn this morning when they left. As soon as he was back home the engineer jumped out of any business suit as if it was strangling him, seeking comfort in jeans and a t-shirt, sometimes going for the Sheldon-Cooper-looks and putting on something long-sleeved beneath it. His dress shirts thus rarely smelt of anything else than his aftershave and the soft tinge of coconut that she liked so much.

"Hey, Peps, the bots are misbehaving, I don't know if they really deserve to know the news we wanna tell them."

He told her this as if they were a bunch of misbehaving kids who would be told to go to bed without having Dinner. U was wheeling himself over to the woman, beeping at her until her hand came to rest on its… _head._

"It would be plain mean to not tell them. After all, their little brother already knows."

By now, both machines were beeping, and this time it sounded offended. Tony was lifting both his hands in defense.

"No, it's not unfair that we told J.A.R.V.I.S. before you, because actually we did not tell him, but he figured it out."

Loki's eyes by now were flying between the engineer and his spouse who made her way over to the mortal, U wheeling right next to her. A side glance towards Banner told him that the physicist was utterly amused.

When Pepper was safely cocooned in Tony's embrace, the bots had gathered in front of them like eager children, waiting for their bedtime story.

"Okay. Good news number one: Pepper agreed to marry me. And yes, she liked the ring." Tony smiled at that, remembering the curious hovering of his bots around him as he had stared at the tiny object in the velvet box days before this accursed invasion, trying to figure out how to propose without making a fool out of himself. He had even considered practicing with DUM-E, yet, finding the ring in the foam from the fire extinguisher would have been a pain, so he decided against it.

The bots were beeping happily and waving their arms, and somehow it was an adorable look.

"Good news number two." This time Pepper talked, both heads whipping around to watch her. DUM-E even adjusted the camera. Suddenly unsure what to say she turned to Tony.

"Do we have to give them the birds and bees talk first? After all, all of their brothers are mechanical so far…" she trailed off.

Tony just shrugged. "J.A.R.V.I.S., make sure to let them know how human procreation works. Okay, guys, long story short, in about nine months you will have a new baby brother."

A confused silence radiated in the workshop. U was the first one to beep, his processor a bit faster in actually implementing what J.A.R.V.I.S. was transmitting about how their little brother would come into this world, that this time it would not be Tony flipping some switch.

DUM-E kept adjusting his camera on Pepper, ever so softly waving his head as he kept processing. He did not beep this time, but his arm moved, gently tugging at the shirt over Pepper's stomach. When he adjusted the camera once more on her face she could not help but smile and place her hand on his head.

"Yes, that's where he is in the moment. Are you happy?"

DUM-E beeped at that, and it sounded like a smile, if anything could sound like that. Loki kept watching the scene in awe, marveling at the machines and their creator.

How was it possible to create a machine with emotions? Because from what he had witnessed in the past days, both the robots in the workshop, as well as the ethereal voice from the ceiling very clearly were more than soulless beings.

* * *

J.A.R.V.I.S. had announced ten minutes later that Mr. Hogan had picked up Miss Potts' family from the airport and that it would take them about one hour and a half to arrive given the traffic and the destruction on West Street.

Interestingly, it was Pepper who got nervous at that time. The last time she had seen her family was at her nephew's first birthday, and this visit had been rather nerve-wrecking, because, well, she had just blown up an arc reactor and killed a man, while her boss had nothing better to do than tell the world that he was a frickin' superhero.

She had spoken all but two words with her father, and only chatted with her mother about how she was and if she liked her job. As if she could tell her the truth.

Her conversation with her brother had been even more nerve-wrecking. How could he not tell her that he had found a girl and got married and had a kid and she had to find out all of that when she was calling her mother, because her boss had just been kidnapped and maybe was dead and she wanted her Mom to make the world look good again?

Owen had not known what to say, other than they did not want to bother her. She had left the same day, crying in the private jet Tony had ordered her to take her all the way to Seattle, because why should she take a commercial line? She had exchanged all but two words with her sister in law, and was not even sure if she remembered the name of the woman correctly.

Oddly enough, Tony was the one to stay calm when she was wondering what to order for Dinner, because all of them must be tired from the travel, when she was fussing about the accommodations, he was actually taking her hand, showing her to the rooms, letting her fuss about the kid's bed, and kissed her when she was on the verge of breaking down.

"What if they don't like you?"

Tony had frowned at that, looking a bit fake-offended. "Seriously? What's not to like about me? I'm awesome and you're gorgeous. Stop worrying."

When J.A.R.V.I.S. announced that Mr. Hogan and their guests had arrived, Loki was just coming down from the roof from where he had addressed Heimdall, asking the Gatekeeper to forward a message to Thor to join them in three days to meet with the Avengers. A soft, uncomfortable tingle in his chest told him, that the older God indeed had his eyes on him, and while the Trickster was sure that Heimdall did not like him any more than before his fall into the Void, one could at least trust him to fulfill his duty and keep the acting king informed.

The Demigod briefly considered hiding away in his room. On the other hand, he was ever so slightly curious about Lady Pepper's parents and brother, so he strolled into the living room and sat down on the couch, his eyes straying to the tablet on the table. Maybe Stark would be so kind to lend it to him again…

Bruce had settled into his room for a while after asking Tony whether he could borrow some more of his clothes, after all, he would not risk running into Ross when shopping for things. Tony had just laughed at that, equipped the other man with a another Stark pad and ordered his AI to get whatever Bruce wanted after the man took a detour to his wardrobe, coming out wearing another pair of loose fitting sweatpants and a hoodie.

When the elevator arrived at the Penthouse, Pepper was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown.

"I don't know if that was a good idea", she whispered as Tony took his place by her side, slightly snickering.

"What?!" was her offended reaction to that, making him lift his arms in surrender.

"Well, you're the brave Miss Potts, detonator of arc reactors, slayer of Stane and handler of the volatile Anthony Stark, and you're falling apart at the prospect of meeting your parents."

"I feel like a Valkyrie now", Pepper laughed to everybody's surprise, and just then the doors of the private elevator opened, revealing a slightly disheveled Owen Hunt who was carrying his sleeping son while his wife stood behind him, an annoyed expression on her face. Janine? Joleen? Elizabeth? What for heaven's sake had been her name? was following him, her hands in the pockets of her jeans.

It was Tony who greeted them with a silent "Hey" and offered to show them their bedroom right away to put the kid in a bed. Pepper let go off him reluctantly as her parents sauntered out of the elevator, eyes wide as they took in the exclusive interior of the Penthouse… well, if you neglected the rather big holes in the floor that were covered by wooden plates until they got the right marble. And the missing window. Also covered by a wooden plate.

John Potts took a good look around before his gaze wandered to his daughter who stood there, nailed to the spot, looking so grown up while still somewhat looking like the 16 year old brat who had written applications to all the colleges that where the farthest away from her hometown. Flats, jeans, a ponytail. He had been so ambivalent back then, wanting only the best for her, still being offended by her harsh behavior.

In the past years he had come to peace with her not thinking the same way he did, he had followed her developing career. Stark's reputation concerning women had not been the best already when she started working for him, but it seemed that he never tried anything with her, so at least he did not have to be worried about her sleeping her way up. And if he did worry about it, he kept it to himself, because Evelyn would have read him the riot act about thinking this way about his daughter.

Still, it was easier keeping out of her life, and when she called that fateful day her boss had gone missing in Afghanistan they did not really know how to react. And who would have thought that his daughter, who had started out as an accountant, suddenly would be leading an international company and be the girlfriend of _the_ Tony Stark?

Evelyn strolled out right next to him, also taking in the damage and the luxury of her daughter's home. It was weird to think that people living under such circumstances would only wear Armani suits and Chanel costumes, but somehow she felt a bit disappointed after the brief glance of Mr. Stark in jeans and a band t-shirt, as well as her daughter in the same get up (and what appeared to be a dress shirt for men).

On the other hand, if this dress shirt belonged to Mr. Stark, it was actually quite cute.

"The aliens took quite a number on that part of the town, huh?" John asked, pointing at the window. "Any of them got in here?"

"Nope, that would be me taking the short way out there", Tony announced as he rounded the corner, offering his hand to the man and Pepper's Mom, officially introducing himself. When he felt four glances on him, because he was sure that Loki was sporting this _How can I ever make this right?_ look on his face again, the engineer just shrugged.

"Desperate measures, I'll never do it again. Peps, you wanna show them their room? I guess Happy is bringing the luggage?"

His glance just briefly flitted to the ceiling, letting J.A.R.V.I.S. know that he was addressed and then regretted it almost immediately. His in-laws, after all, were even less acquainted with artificial intelligence than their resident Demigod.

It was too late now, though. At least J.A.R.V.I.S. was still is his beep-when-there's-strangers-mode, so he did exactly that before speaking.

" _Mr. Hogan is loading the luggage in the private elevator as we speak and is asking whether he should come up and help with carrying it to the rooms."_

Curious glances were directed to the ceiling and Tony decided that he would just go on as always. After all it was his home. If he wanted to talk to thin air, he would. If the thin air answered, even better. So he just shrugged and answered: "No, it's fine, J.A.R.V.I.S., we will take care of it. Please tell him we are done for the day and will need him tomorrow around noon."

" _Will do. Sir, the food has arrived. Shall I tell Mr. Hogan to send it up with the luggage?"_

"Sure, thanks buddy. Hey Pep, what did you order?" Tony let go off the older woman's hand and turned to his spouse who was actually slightly flabbergasted at the engineer's… normal… behavior.

"Uhm… Gino's. You love their lasagna, and I thought Loki and Bruce might like their vegetarian version. Mom, Dad, I'll show you your room. Will you take care of the food and the luggage?"

Tony smiled reassuringly at her. "Yeah, sure. I'll get Bruce to help if it's too heavy. He's still not accepting my job-offer, somehow he should earn his living here, right?"

At least that made her laugh when she turned to her parents. "Stop prodding the poor man. First we have to get General Ross off his back. Mom, Dad, this way, please. You can see the Empire State Building from your room…"

While Pepper and her parents were heading towards the guestroom Loki had occupied before, Tony chose to wait right in front of the elevator, slightly rocking back on his heels as he did so, slightly hoping that his in-laws did not choose to take half of their wardrobe with them when going somewhere for three days. Pepper had this bad habit, dragging at least five pairs of shoes with her everywhere.

When the doors to the elevator finally slid open, he left the luggage (which was composed of a considerate amount of suitcases and bags, thank God… uh, and a guitar?) right next to it, because he did not know which belonged to whom, and took the bags with the food heading for the kitchen just as Owen returned.

"Oh, hey, Dinner's arrived, I hope you like lasagna, Gino's make the best in town. I'll help you with…" Tony started, but Owen waved him off.

"No problem, I'll get the bags to the rooms and will fetch the others."

Only now Tony could take a closer look at Pepper's brother. He was tall, almost Loki's size, sporting the same long, elegant limbs and the strawberry blond hair and a beard of the same color, and sky-blue eyes, just like Pepper (well, except for the beard). He looked bulkier than their resident God, though, and was easily shouldering the bags before taking the suitcases.

"I hope you ordered enough, I could eat a horse", the other man then smiled, making Tony laugh.

"Oh, believe me, we're ordering here in amounts that could feed an army. Could you do me a favor and knock on the room at the end of the hallway, please? Bruce is hiding away from us otherwise."

Owen just shrugged. "Sure, no problem", before turning and heading back to the guestrooms, while Tony was briefly thinking whether it was impolite that he was letting the other man haul the luggage to the rooms. On the other hand, Owen had offered it, so…

Finally shrugging, he rather went into the dining room, setting down the bags with their food before getting crockery and cutlery, throwing a quick glance at the Demigod on his couch in the living room who at the moment was looking out of the window and appeared to be daydreaming.

"Hey, Loki, Dinner's ready. You gonna join us?"

He startled the other man, and only now the engineer realized that the Demigod was not looking _out_ the window, but had been watching the wooden plate substituting the one he had shattered with Tony's body.

"They'll replace the window as soon as possible. You know what's weird? The thing was damaged, somehow, already before your temper tantrum, otherwise it would not have broken, not even under my bodyweight. I'm getting the new one for free."

Loki just looked at the Man of Iron, before turning his eyes back to the window. If it had been made to sustain forces like these, Anthony most probably would have been injured badly, not to think of what his mind-controlled self would have done to him. Fisting his left hand, he took a deep breath, avoiding looking at the engineer again.

Tony was not letting him off the hook this easily, though. "You planning on doing this again?" he asked, making the God's head whip around.

"No! Of course not!"

"Then stop beating yourself up because of it. I convinced the entire frickin' planet that it's not your fault, but I'm willing to spend some more hours to convince also you, and just so you know it, I can get rather annoying when I'm talking for hours. The suit caught me, that's all that matters. You coming now? That Veggie-lasagna smells quite good, actually…"

Tony kept looking him in the eye, and while Loki never had been one to back down, he now rolled his eyes to keep from averting them again. He believed that Anthony would actually make the effort, and actually, they had other, better things to do in the moment.

"I will join you, Anthony." With that he got up from the couch and indeed joined the other man in the dining room area of the Penthouse, and, to Tony's surprise started to distribute the plates.

In the end, the engineer just shrugged and started on the cutlery, his mouth by now watering at the delicious smell in front of him.

"I… never intended to harm anyone. Still, everyone I held dear, many innocent people around me were hurt, because of me… how does one live with this guilt?" He was asking quietly, never straying from his chore to set the crockery, not even knowing why he was speaking it aloud.

"By getting up every day and trying to make the world a better place. At least that's what I'm trying to do", Tony stated, continuing distributing the cutlery. It got him a scrutinizing glance from the Demigod.

"What would you know of this kind of guilt, Man of Iron?" The mortal was a hero on this planet. People looked up to him, for saving their world, flying around in his creations, and nobody was looking down on him for using his brain.

The clatter of the cutlery stopped as Tony once more looked him in the eye.

"I was not wearing the moniker _Merchant of Death_ for nothing, Loki."

"Mer-Merchant of...", Loki echoed.

"I was producing weapons, Lokes. And they were good, oh, I was so good at inventing things that actually killed people, and I rather chose not to think about the collateral damage, I chose to believe that we only killed the bad guys. It took my business partner, the man who was like a father for me, stabbing me in the back and seeing innocent people getting killed by the very same weapons I designed to defend them that I finally admitted the truth to myself. I shut down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries and changed my life. That's what I'm doing. Getting up every day and trying to make the world a better place. It took me some time to figure out how, and somehow I still manage to make obscene amounts of money with what I'm doing…"

Loki just watched him for a while before setting down the next plate.

"You really do talk a lot", he said then, still processing what he had heard, making the inventor roll his eyes and snicker.

"Well, for a guy who's been named Silvertongue you're awfully quiet."

* * *

Pepper decided right after her second bite of lasagna that she did not really know whether she liked her sister-in-law. Her name turned out to be Emma. She and Owen had met at some fund-raiser for his hospital, when his ex-wife had still been looking for new acquaintances for him.

It caused Pepper to glare at her brother. There was an ex-wife before _this_ wife?! It made Owen squirm under her glance, oh, he so would tell her _everything_!

Tony was still busy cutting Loki's food into pieces when Emma told them she was a vegetarian, and did not even realize that Bruce told Pepper with only a tiny side-glance that she should give her his vegetarian food, he would be alright with the regular thing. She did not say anything more, and was just sitting on her chair, waiting until everyone was served.

Tony and Loki shared another glance, and the engineer actually bit his tongue and focused on producing bite-sized bits for the Demigod who Pepper and he somehow had placed between the two of them at the table to keep from asking tons of questions just to break the tension.

Tony found out that his brother-in-law to be was actually his half-brother-in-law, which also explained the different family name. Evelyn had lost her first husband when Owen had been five, and it took her a while to give in to John's courting. Owen was already ten when Pepper joined their family, making the trauma surgeon six years older than Tony.

John and Evelyn indeed had had financial problems, however, a company that was producing electricity with solar panels had bought the land around their farm and now actually was paying them good money to herd the sheep that were supposed to keep the grass low. Interestingly, they started to make money with the organic mutton they were selling. Emma had helped setting up a store on their farm, making most of the people secretly glance at the quiet woman who had said all but two sentences since she arrived here.

Her father had only said the company's name once, causing Pepper to regret placing Loki in the middle, because she wanted to catch Tony's hand, squeeze it slightly. She resorted to smiling at him warmly, making the engineer blush slightly. He had known… and he had helped. He had known that her father was way too stubborn to accept any help from his daughter or her boss. So he had helped indirectly. And now she finally knew why Tony had been so desperate to buy that tiny, Midwestern company named _Solaris_.

Owen was heading the department of surgery and leading the department of trauma surgery in the hospital in Seattle he was working at. Emma actually did cut in there, complaining how much he was working, and what little time he had he spent with...

J.A.R.V.I.S. silent beeping interrupted the awkward silence that followed her comment.

" _Mr. and Mrs. Hunt, your son is awake and appears to be confused about his whereabouts."_

Emma kept on eating while Owen got up to look after the boy.

He returned with the kid that was wearing _Despicable me_ pajamas on his arm.

"Samuel heard we were having lasagna and decided he was hungry, too, right, buddy?"

The child answered with a shy nod, clinging to his father. Owen obviously did not have any problems sharing his food with his son, as soon as Tony had organized for another fork, both Hunt men were digging into the lasagna.

Emma got livelier after her second glass of wine, telling them about her former job in perinatology, telling them about a woman who demanded a C-section because her wedding was in two weeks and she wanted to fit into a regular dress. After her third glass of wine she also seemed to be not offended anymore when Pepper had declared that all that mattered was getting married and that she would not go shopping for a special dress.

Interestingly, Evelyn had backed up her daughter. When this obnoxious man had called her in the middle of the night, declaring he was going to marry her daughter and it would be nice if they'd come, she had thought Tony Stark would make a show out of it, with lots of glitter and pomp.

By now she could imagine a tiny, intimate ceremony, only them and a Justice of the peace, and yes, it would be all they needed.

John had just shrugged and said that not everybody wasted 3 grand on a dress you were wearing only once and not even fitting into it anymore.

Emma sent an offended huff at her father-in-law. Yes, her dress did not fit anymore. But that had something to do with the missing extent of the baby bump she had been sporting at her wedding.

She excused herself after her fourth glass, saying she was tired. Sam was nursing a glass with apple juice by now, never having left his father's lap, who by now had closed both his arms around the boy, hugging him close.

Tony took some time to watch the boy, a spitting image of his father and tried to picture himself like that. He failed miserably, because somehow, something was missing. The scene would be incomplete without Pepper…

Bruce and Pepper's parents were the next to leave. Bruce made another joke about going shopping now, while the two older people were just exhausted from the travel, wishing all of them a good night.

John stopped briefly next to Owen, looking at his grandson expectantly. "Hey, kiddo, you gonna help your Gramps scaring away the monsters under the bed so Granny can sleep well?"

Evelyn right out laughed at that, while Sam declared that he did not think monsters would climb up all the way to the top of the tower to hide under the bed.

"But I'll help you anyway, Grampa", he laughed, extending his arms to be picked up by his grandfather, oblivious to the thankful glance Owen sent his step-father, because he knew that Sam would end up being told a story and cuddling with his grandparents, eventually falling asleep in their bed. At least the boy would not have to witness the argument that for sure would be following later or the next morning because... just because. Emma did not need a reason to be mad at him. If he was lucky she would give him the silent treatment.

A warm hand on his forearm made Loki jerk up. He had dulled out most of the conversation, busying himself with his food, trying to avoid looking at the others. Pepper had filled his plate twice during Dinner, and only when he was done with wolfing down everything he realized how hungry he had really been.

"You look tired", she said now, her fingers gently squeezing his arm as he looked at her.

"I am", he admitted, and he really was, despite the hours he had spent sleeping during this day.

"Why don't you go upstairs, hmm? Sleep. It's not like you've got to be anywhere tomorrow morning. If you need anything, let J.A.R.V.I.S. know. And Peps and I are right next door." Tony leaned back on his chair, softly placing a hand on his stomach. He'd had too much. But that stuff from Gino's was just that delicious.

"I think I will do that. May I borrow your flat computer again, Anthony? Maybe J.A.R.V.I.S. can find me some more books."

"Sure, it's yours, you can keep it. Sleep tight."

Loki just threw him a thankful glance as he got up and then wandered into the living room, picking up the tablet from the table. He slowly made his way up the stairs, clutching it to his chest, disappearing in his room.

Tony threw a worried glance at his fiancée while Owen was still watching the stairs.

"That's the guy who tried invading our planet? He looks like chewed on and spit out."

"I guess you also saw the evidence on tv that he was mind-controlled. I dared not yet asking him what the Chitauri did to him that it worked, but I guess it's not pretty. You want a beer?" Tony asked, watching the other man. Owen had stuck to apple juice, just like his boy, and now shrugged.

"If you don't mind, I'd rather have something from your bar over there."

"Sure. Pep, why don't you take your brother to the living room? Take the good stuff from the bottle with the square lid. I'll take care of this mess here."

* * *

Owen threw her a wary glance when she handed him the scotch, one single ice cube tingling in the glass.

"I never would have thought that Tony Stark of all people would know how to load a dishwasher."

Pepper chuckled slightly, sitting down right next to her brother.

"Well, since he built our dishwasher, he's more or less the only person to properly use it. For all I know this thing could also fly to the moon if you pushed the correct buttons. And since we don't even have a maid it's either one of us doing it, or Tony inventing a bot to do it."

Her brother chuckled at that, letting the ice cube circle in his glass. They grew silent as he took his first sip and then chose to rather stare at the humongous TV setup that actually looking at his sister.

"Samuel looks just like you, you know?" she offered after a while, studying his face as it lit up with a smile.

"He's a great kid. Shy as a stray cat, but once you get to know him, you'll like him."

"I already like him now, Owen. I just wish…" She trailed off. She did not want to reproach him for not staying in contact.

Her brother just sighed heavily, taking another sip, making her reach out for him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to…"

"No, Gin, it's ok. If not for your man phoning in in the middle of the night, calling me an idiot for neglecting my sister this long, I would not be here for your wedding, I guess." His eyes were never leaving his glass, the cube once more spinning in it.

"That really sounds like Tony." This time it was her face that beamed with a fond smile, making Owen smile in turn. The smile faded quickly, though.

"My… my life has been a mess in the past years, somehow. I came back from my second turn in Iraq, and find myself in Seattle, trying to impress one of the medical assistants by stapling my own leg… you don't know how often I wanted to call you, Gin… and then I thought why should I bother you with my problems?"

"You could have tried at least before deciding that most probably I didn't want to know." She had heard about a gun rampage, about a plane crash that nearly cost him his job in those rare phone calls, when she just couldn't stand not hearing her brother tell her that everything was alright. He was a bad liar, but at least he still was alive.

Taking a deep breath, Pepper revived her smile. "So, you got all _I don't feel any pain_ to impress Emma?"

She unconsciously reached out for him when his face turned oh so sad.

"Owen, what…?"

"No… it… Emma came later. Actually, Cristina talked me into dating her."

"The Ex-wife, I guess. What do I have to do to her for leaving you?" Pepper asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit. A broody Owen was not good.

A sad smile appeared on her brother's face. "Nothing. We were not meant to be. We're like two magnets… if you turn them the right way, they are drawn to each other… but just twist them a bit, and they're pushing each other apart. She's been working in Switzerland for the past three years."

Owen was staring at his glass again, while Pepper was watching him.

"You know that I will interrogate you about everything, right?"

"I served in the army, Gin, I'm not that easy to break."

Pepper just sent him a smile. "I'm living with Tony Stark for more than ten years. I do know how to weasel out information from other people."

Owen threw a look at the man who was still rummaging around in the kitchen.

"Why is he calling you Pepper, Ginny? Why's everybody doing that? Even Forbes is using that name."

He watched how his sister blushed, still embarrassed by that incident so many years ago, with poor Happy in the line of her temper.

"Uhm… there was pepper spray involved, and that is all I will say", she answered.

"You… Pepper spray? I guess I can skip the shovel talk with him, then, huh? You seem to have everything under control."

At that Pepper actually laughed.

"I did not use it against him. And please, no shovel talk for Tony. He's a good guy. Once I figured out that he really wanted me, it was a matter of seconds to fall for him. I've never regretted it. He keeps telling me I'm collecting the hopeless cases, though, since we took Loki in."

Owen turned serious at that.

"Do you really think it is a good idea, having him here? I mean, he looks harmless with the sling and he moves like he'll need some time to recover from all his bruises and sprains, but…"

Pepper interrupted him there. "Please, don't. Picking at Loki is not what you want to do around me. I insulted the Queen of Asgard on his behalf. We know but nothing about him, and what little I do know made me want to strangle the God of Thunder yesterday.

The man on her couch just snorted.

"Virginia Potts, being on top of the of Forbes' top fifty companies is not enough, huh?"

"You know me, Owen. Always aiming high."

They smiled at each other, and her brother was catching her hand, eventually.

"I miss you, Ginny. All of us do. We… just didn't know how to…approach you."

Pepper sighed.

"Believe me, I didn't know how, either. Sometimes, Tony's big mouth can be an advantage…"

Silent laughter behind them made her look up, seeing the man in question walk up to the couch, a box in his hands.

"I never thought you'd ever admit that loudly, Pep. Gino's sent some desserts. Maybe Emma would like some panna cotta. I put the tiramisu in the fridge, I think Loki might like it with it tasting like coffee and being sweet."

Owen took the box out of Tony's hand, briefly looking at the other man. "I guess she might, yeah."

* * *

Tony was the first one up the next morning, after somehow ending up going to bed early without the drama of the last few days, knowing that J.A.R.V.I.S. was watching them and making sure they were all safe.

He slept like a baby, not even waking up when Pepper was done finding out all that had happened in her brother's life.

Ten hours of sleep did not help his tiny problem of being slightly inarticulate in the morning, though, so he was leaning on the counter, next to his trusty coffee maker, waiting for his fuel of life while he was pondering over how to finally repair the broken palm repulsor of MARK VI.

John Potts found him like this in the kitchen, staring into nowhere, clutching an empty cup, only reacting to the second "Good morning!" the older man was offering.

Tony startled at this, his head snapping around to his soon-to-be father-in-law. "Good morning. Do you also want some coffee? J.A.R.V.I.S., what do we have for breakfast?"

Before the engineer could scold himself once more for springing his AI on people who were not used to it, J.A.R.V.I.S. answered after softly beeping: _"That depends on what you want to offer, Sir. Miss Potts and Mr. Laufeyson might want granola, as usual. I ordered the ingredients for continental and English breakfast._ "

"Yeah, I'm not cooking, J. You know what happened the last time. Coffee?" the engineer asked again, as John was still busy watching the ceiling and had to shake himself out of his stupor.

"Uh… yes, thank you. What happened the last time you tried cooking?" the older man questioned, rounding the counter to sit down on one of the barstools as Tony poured the first cup and placed it in front of John before he turned around and hunted down sugar and cream.

"I know how to cook, I've been feeding myself since Howard shipped me off to the MIT before I had turned 14. Nothing too fancy, but…" Tony shrugged. There were restaurants for fancy food. He was fine with being able to produce a decent pasta and scrambled eggs.

"I just get distracted too easily. Burnt eggs smell disgusting, and instead of turning off the stove, J.A.R.V.I.S. decided he'd rather let it rain in my kitchen. We had a long talk about that afterwards. The toaster's working miracles since then, though."

Both Tony and John were still laughing when Evelyn exited the guestroom with her grandson in tow, watching how the engineer placed sugar and cream in front of her husband, as if he knew exactly how John was having his coffee.

On second thought, most probably he did, since Virginia was having it the same way. Evelyn preferred her coffee black.

Tony had just poured himself his first cup, taking a scalding gulp, sighing at the bitter taste that ran down his throat, ignoring the critical glance John threw him. Yeah, most probably he was lacking heat receptors in his throat – which was weird, since spicy food was making him tear up in seconds.

Arriving in the kitchen she also offered a "Good morning" to both men before helping Samuel up on one of the barstools and gladly agreed on the cup of coffee she was offered.

Clutching the cup in both hands she smelt the rich aroma before sadly having to set it down on the counter, because it was still scalding hot.

Smiling at her son-in-law, she straightened her back. "Okay. Where's the eggs and bacon? I'm making breakfast."

She ignored the engineer's faint complaints and then got to work.


	11. Restless

_**Chapter 11: Restless**_

 _Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides. (André Malraux)_

* * *

Pepper woke to the smell of bacon, as did most of the other people in the Penthouse. Even Bruce gave up hiding eventually and strolled into the kitchen, slightly smirking at a flustered Tony who tried to evade being fed by his mother-in-law.

Sam was smirking into his cup of cocoa when Tony finally accepted some toast and started nibbling on it. The boy was still feeling shy around all of the strange people, yet, somehow he was itching to find out more. After all, his new uncle was Iron Man! How cool was that?!

The boy got the first batch of scrambled eggs with bacon and happily dug into it. Bruce sat down next to the kid, shaking his head no as Tony offered more coffee, and asked for tea instead. Before the physicist knew what happened, also he was served, and John was mock-complaining that Evelyn fed everyone else but him.

The CEO of Stark Industries was still standing on top of the stairs, lightly holding onto the banister and watching the scene in her kitchen. A tiny part had feared that her parents would not like Tony, because he was rich, and so many things they weren't. She had thought the last evening would blow up in their faces. She was glad that she had been wrong in this regard.

The sound of a door opening behind her made her turn around, finding Loki strolling out, as he was adjusting his sling. He still looked so tired and she was afraid that with this turmoil they were creating with her family here they were making it even harder for him to recover.

"Good morning, Loki. I hope we did not wake you. Mom is trying to force-feed Tony. I have to stop her before he gets sick."

Stepping up to her, the Demigod threw a look down into the kitchen area, watching how the owner of his recent home clutched his coffee cup and some toast, while Lady Pepper's mother had taken over the reign in the kitchen.

"Dr. Banner seems to be rather pleased", he answered, and then glanced at the redhead. "The smell woke me", he admitted, having her think about how he had said that he did not eat meat. And now the entire Penthouse smelt of bacon.

"Oh… I'm sorry, I should have told Mom that we are housing a real vegetarian and not just someone who's doing it because it's in vogue. J.A.R.V.I.S., up the ventilation."

Interestingly, Loki blushed slightly. "To be honest, it smells delicious. Meat just does not sit well with my stomach, so I try to avoid it. On Asgard nobody would forego roast boar or whatever other animal prepared for food voluntarily, though." Brushing a stray strand of black hair out of his face, the Demigod directed his attention again at the people in the kitchen. People who were only eating vegetables. You would not find something like that on Asgard.

"Do you want a scrunchy to keep your hair out of your face?" she asked as she watched him brush his hair back, his head turning again to send her a confused look.

"A… uh, hair tie?" she specified, watching him as his free hand reached up to touch the black strands again. Now, that there was no need anymore to keep it out of his face he did not put any effort in slicking it back, and actually, it felt way cleaner to him. Still, he was starting to wonder how much time exactly he had spent in the Void that his hair had gotten so long.

"If that is not a problem, yes, I would like something to keep it out of my face."

Pepper just motioned at him to follow her, turning back to her bedroom. Tony would have to fend off Mama Potts and her trials to feed him for a bit longer on his own, she decided.

"What did you do on Asgard? You know, now you have me wondering how both you and Thor have this long hair. It must be highly impractical when you're fighting." She disappeared in the bathroom while Loki awkwardly waited at the entrance to her bedroom. Was he supposed to go in there? What would the Man of Iron say if he…? He briefly took in the interior of the room. There were clothes lying around, and in total it looked like the most inhabited room in the Penthouse. All the other rooms, despite having been lived in for the past few days by more than just the couple looked sterile and too tidy.

Then he realized that he had been asked a question.

"I… have never been wearing my hair this long before. Before my fall it did barely reach my ears", he answered. Narvi had still managed to pull at it all the time.

"You know, we can call someone to cut it, if you want to. Though I have to say that it suits you really well." Pepper reappeared from the bathroom, actually having found a black scrunchy that would not draw too much attention. Upon seeing Loki glued to the spot at the door sill, she waved at him.

"Come on in, maybe you should sit down on the bed, otherwise I'll need a stepstool to reach your head."

Seeing him hesitate she contemplated what she had just said.

"I'm making you uncomfortable. I guess on Asgard a Lady doesn't just ask you to sit down on her bed, right?"

Seeing him blush made her want to reach out to pat his arm and reassure him that she intended nothing bad or… compromising. And then she had to remind herself that the man in front of her most probably had been in more compromising situations than one Tony Stark could create in his life, after all, the God claimed to be something like two millennia old. Still. He did not look like the thought of entering this room made feel him okay, so…

"Okay, I think I guessed correctly", the redhead answered her own question before Loki could say anything. Briefly contemplating her options she then told the Demigod to just turn around. He expected her to just gather the jet-black strands and tie them together, then, however, he felt her fingers comb through his hair, separating three major strands and quickly braiding it.

"See, now you're pretty. Come on, let's get some breakfast and rescue Tony."

By the time Pepper and Loki had reached the kitchen, Evelyn was on the verge of spoon-feeding Tony. The redhead quickly intervened, pushing the plate with food out of her fiancée's smelling distance, pecking his lips and whispering a "Sorry", before pushing his cup of coffee back into his hands.

Turning around she faced her mother. "Mom, I know that you are a devotee of breakfast, but not everybody does like to eat right after getting up. We're not making you eat seafood, so please leave Tony alone!"

"But…" Evelyn tried to reason with her daughter. After all, the man owned a multi-billion dollar company, and had a side job as a superhero. He had to eat something, right?

Pepper did not even sigh. She just decided to change the topic. "Did you make the eggs in the grease of the bacon, or do you also have some without? Loki, would you like eggs?"

The Demigod flinched as he was addressed, feeling five eye pairs resting on him now. "I… I would rather have some of the granola… a-and some milk, please." Warm food after getting up, it would just make him sleepy again… and he was tired enough all the time.

He did not even have to ask for coffee. By the time Lady Pepper had prepared his food, Anthony had put a cup in front of him, including sugar and cream, motioning for him to sit down. The engineer then threw an apologetic look at his mother-in-law.

"I'm really sorry… but me and breakfast just don't work. Peps learned that the hard way, when she started working for me, she always wanted to feed me. Somehow, she's still doing that…"

"Because every time you lock yourself up in your workshop you forget that food even exists." After handing Loki a spoon and briefly watching how he still struggled to eat with his left hand, she turned to her mother again.

"I'll have some of the eggs, though, please."

* * *

Owen and Emma had appeared only minutes after Loki and Pepper had sat down and started eating, and Tony briefly wondered if his kitchen had ever been this crowded. He actually could not come up with any other occasion than the accursed birthday party in Malibu when he still had been dying.

Loki inhaled his food as good as he could, slightly wondering how inept he was with his left hand when it came to everyday tasks that did not include throwing daggers. His eyes strayed to Anthony who was still nipping on his coffee while preparing another cup for Lady Pepper. Left-handed. However, in between greeting Pepper's brother and his wife, he had switched his cup to his left hand, and continued preparing the coffee with the other.

It slightly confused the Demigod, as to why he was paying this close attention to the other man. In the few days he had been living here, he had learned that Anthony was drinking coffee all the time, maybe it was just practice that made his gestures look so easy.

"Thank you for the dessert, yesterday", Emma piped up, her eyes seeking out the billionaire. She knew she had not made the best first impression the day before, she just did not feel well in bigger groups of people.

Loki's eyes fixed on her over his spoon, taking a long look at the woman. The way she and her husband were entering the room told him that whatever love they had felt for each other had long withered away.

The way the child jumped off his chair, running towards his father, showed him that the man was the psychological parent. The way the mother just moved on, smiling at Anthony told him an entirely different story. She was a shy thing, trying to somehow fit in, and it made him pity her, somehow, because he knew exactly how that felt.

"No problem. Oh, hey, Lokes, I kept some of the tiramisu for you." Handing Lady Pepper her coffee the billionaire pulled her close, pecking her lips. "I kept some of the panna cotta for you. And Gino's remembered that you're allergic to strawberries, so we got the caramel sauce. J, what's the plan for today?"

" _Miss Potts has a videoconference scheduled with Minister Salazar and Minister Chu this morning. I have analyzed the palm repulsor of MARK VI in the meantime, Sir, and would suggest building it anew. Furthermore, Mr. Kingsley is requesting your input on the new Stark phone. Obviously, they are having problems with the battery. Both of you are free for the afternoon."_

Tony sighed. "They always have problems with the battery. I'll call him later. Get started on the repulsor, let me know when it's done… or better, just build a new gauntlet, there's no use of a new repulsor in a broken gauntlet."

" _Indeed, Sir. Do you want me to finish the work on MARK VII?"_

By now, most of the people in the kitchen watched how Tony was conversing with his AI, and both Bruce and Loki were frowning at the man. MARK VII was the latest suit, so…

Pepper turned around in the engineer's arms.

"What is there to be finished on MARK VII?!" she asked, making him squirm under her gaze.

"Uhm…"

"God, Tony, please tell me you did not wear an unfinished suit into battle", Bruce now piped up.

"I… it was not unfinished… It was just not… completely finished. It was fully functional, J.A.R.V.I.S., tell them!"

" _We were skipping the spinning rims, as Sir has put it. The suit is fully functional. Yet, it is not up to Sir's standards of design, which is why I asked whether you wanted to have it finished."_

Pepper huffed. It would have been totally Tony to wear an unfinished armor into battle. Yet, she also knew that J.A.R.V.I.S. would not lie about that fact.

Tony's gaze was fixed on Loki who was watching him with wide eyes.

"The suit was fully functional, Loki."

The Demigod looked at him for a few more seconds before lowering his head, turning to his bowl again, muttering an "If you say so…"

Tony's "Hey!" was sharp, making the God's head whip up again.

"I may be reckless, but I'm not an idiot. The suit sustained a flight into outta space and I did not even construct it for that reason. It. Was. Fully. Functional."

And even if it had not been, it would not have been Loki's fault. He held the Trickster God's gaze for a little longer, until Loki finally nodded.

Tony nodded back, pulling Pepper flush against him before taking another sip from his cup.

"Okay. So, since all of us are free this afternoon, should we raid the City hall and get married, or rather go for the Zoo?" the engineer asked then, trying to lighten the mood

Sam voted for the Zoo, having Loki smile, and the rest of them cry with laughter.

* * *

The Potts/Hunts had opted against going for sightseeing. After all, a rather large part of lower Manhattan was destroyed, and none of them felt like being driven around by Tony's chauffeur.

Bruce and Pepper's parents had settled in the kitchen, listening to which places the younger man had travelled in the past years, the two men having switched to tea, while Pepper's Mom had asked for another cup of coffee.

The shy physicist found it astonishingly easy to talk to both people, even though he did not know whether it had transmitted to both of them that he was the Hulk, the green rage monster that had leveled part of the town not so long ago. They had not asked for his profession, but rather wanted to know about his time in Kolkata.

Pepper had taken off to her office on the first floor, rather glad that the minister of finances this time was not part of their merry chat round. That guy was sitting on every penny that was not thrown at the armaments industry.

Tony had indeed called his employees at Stark Industries, and shortly after that disappeared into his workshop to take a closer look at the problem they had with the energy supply to their newest product, talking in terms that not even Bruce had heard before.

Samuel had been disappointed that obviously the Zoo was not really an option, yet, after J.A.R.V.I.S.'s suggestion to watch cartoons, he and Owen had quickly settled in front of the tv, and after a while also Emma joined them, eventually even laughing along.

Loki had curled up in a seat close to the windows after fetching the tablet computer Tony had borrowed him. J.A.R.V.I.S. had suggested a novel about _Alice's adventures in Wonderland_ the day before, and also downloaded it. However, the Demigod had been too tired, too sated to do more than briefly glance at the poem in the beginning before falling asleep.

J.A.R.V.I.S. had switched off the light and the tablet, and Loki woke up hugging the device to his chest. He soon was captured by the tale, now, forgetting about the other people in the room, forgetting what had happened to him as he followed the girl into that rabbit hole.

He startled as much as the others when Anthony burst out from the elevator wearing (or rather still struggling into) the black under suit, heading directly for the stairs that would take him up to the assembly platform the same second that Pepper exited from the office.

"Tony. J.A.R.V.I.S. just…"

"There's been an accident on 32nd street, fuel truck and a few cars. Truck's gonna explode before anyone else will get there, Pep!" The engineer briefly stopped before the door, looking hesitant.

"I didn't say you should not go, Tony. Just be careful, ok?!" the redhead answered. She was hurrying down the stairs as Tony stepped through the doors, by now all eyes turning towards the ramp, as Iron Man was assembled around the engineer, taking off with a yellow streak of energy.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., CCTV feed", Pepper bellowed, her no-nonsense tone having most heads in the Penthouse turn towards her.

" _I am not connected to any video feed close to the site of the accident, Miss Potts",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. answered, sounding apologetic, having her direct her eyes at the ceiling, briefly wondering why they were always doing this when addressing the AI. He did not only have cameras in the ceiling, after all.

"Then hack whatever fucking traffic cam is close by!" she snapped, ignoring her nephew who was whispering at his father that aunt Ginny had just used the f-word.

" _Of course, Miss Potts. May I suggest taking Master Samuel out of the room?"_ J.A.R.V.I.S. suggested and not for the first time Pepper was glad that the AI did not take it personal that she had been snapping at him.

"I guess that's a good idea. Emma, there is also a tv in your guestroom, J.A.R.V.I.S. will get it ready for you."

Owen just threw a glance at his wife who had picked up their son already, secretly glad that she did not put up a fight, even more glad that Sam was not fussing about being taken away from the place where the interesting things happened.

She had only closed the door right behind her when J.A.R.V.I.S. switched from the cartoons that were still playing to a rather grainy video feed of the road where the accident had taken place, just in time to see Iron Man arrive, this time not landing in his patented three point landing, but slowly descending to take in the destruction.

The smell of fuel was reeking into the suit despite all the filters that disconnected him from the surrounding environment, a waterfall of slightly yellowish liquid gushing out from the side that was ripped open.

J.A.R.V.I.S. was scanning the entire scene without Tony even prompting the AI to do so, which once more made him want to congratulate himself for building his electronic servant so smart, while at the same time being proud of J.A.R.V.I.S. After all, he was supposed to learn, and he did that every second he was up.

" _The driver is still alive, Sir. I detect another life sign in the car at the rear end of the trailer."_

Swallowing the lump that was forming in his throat Tony looked at the five cars that were piled underneath or in front of the truck. One of the cars at the front part was burning. Luckily, far enough away from the lake of fuel that was forming underneath his feet.

"I guess I should rather not use the thrusters in the moment, huh, J?"

" _I highly advice against doing so, Sir."_

So Tony walked to the driver's cabin, hoping that the truck would take the weight of the suit without further toppling over as he climbed up to the door, seeing the man slumped over the steering wheel, looking astonishingly unharmed by crashing his truck into five cars.

The man was still unconscious when Tony finally ripped off the door that would not come open. Only now he could see the sheen of sweat on the older man, the unhealthy, greyish color of his skin.

"J.A.R.V.I.S.?"

" _It appears that he had a heart attack, Sir. An ambulance will arrive here in the next minutes."_

Undoing the seatbelt that most probably had kept the man from crushing through the windshield, Tony hosted him on his shoulder fireman stile and carried him away, carefully avoiding the fuel lake as he finally took off to deliver the man to the approaching ambulance.

To say that the paramedics were surprised by the Iron Man express delivery of injured people was an understatement, still, they stopped right away, and after Tony had explained the situation with the fuel and the burning car, they upped the urgency of having firefighters arrive at the site of the accident.

" _Sir, one of the cars beneath the trailer has collapsed. The truck is slanting, and will crush the car with the other living person."_

So Tony was taking off again, rushing back to the truck, and _running_ to catch the trailer in time, because the lake beneath his feet just had increased in size and there was no secure landing spot.

He caught the thing before it could hit the car even more, however at a very disadvantageous angle that made it nearly impossible to lift it or push it out of the way. The metal fingers of his gauntlets dug into the layered metal of the road tanker as he yelled at the woman in the car to get out of it.

According to J.A.R.V.I.S. she was not trapped, and not hurt too badly. She was hysterical, though, cowering against the passenger's door, not moving a limb.

And, of course, the lake was now expanding towards the burning car.

The six people in the Penthouse of Stark Tower watched horrified how Tony tried to change the angle of how he was holding the trailer, fingers digging even deeper into the metal, creating new holes where they protruded the shell.

He was still yelling at the woman, begging her to move, trying to come up with a solution.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., deploy MARK VI!"

Both Pepper and Tony yelled that command simultaneously, however, Pepper wanted the other suit there to help Tony while the engineer thought along the lines of having it drag the woman out of the car before everything around them would blow up in flames.

" _MARK VI is offline for impending repairs."_ J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded apologetic not only in the Penthouse, but also in the suit of armor.

"Then send MARK V… oh, crap, I left the suitcase out of reach for assembly, right?"

Indeed, he had. MARK V went where Tony went. And since they had planned to leave around noon for the City hall, it sat in the trunk of his limousine.

Cursing another time, Tony stemmed his shoulder against the truck, finally being able to change his grip, at least a bit, but also changing the angle of the trailer, making whatever was left of the fuel inside move. It almost knocked him off his feet.

"Pep, grab Bruce and get MARK V out of the limousine. Hurry, I don't know how much longer I can hold this thing!" The engineer's voice startled all of the people in the Penthouse as J.A.R.V.I.S. relayed his message.

While Bruce was still offering to come and help, Pepper had already grabbed the physicist's hand and started dragging him towards the elevator.

It was odd how loud the sound of an arm sling could be as it fell to the ground.

* * *

Two pale hands dug into the layered metal of the trailer, leaving indents just similar to what Iron Man's gauntlets were causing. The engineer startled as Loki appeared right in front of him, facing him, shouldering the road tanker, and, straightening his knees the Trickster God took over, suddenly the weight was gone.

Tony gave himself only a second to stare at the man in black jeans and a white t-shirt, holding a fuel truck with his bare hands before moving himself closer to the God, mirroring his position. In his suit he was about the same height as Loki, and he actually took some time and consideration to position himself again, taking into account that the liquids inside the tank were still moving.

"There is a woman in that car. Get her out and away from here. The fuel has almost reached the burning car over there. I've got the truck."

The suit would sustain the fire and Tony might get a bit hot inside, but as soon as the woman was out of the way he could just drop the truck and fuck off.

Loki just watched him, marveling how calm the other man sounded, the man who had had an anxiety attack over people who were thinking badly of him.

His eyes followed the direction that Anthony was looking, seeing a person cower in one of those contraptions humans used to move, and nodded. He slowly lowered the weight on his shoulder until it rested fully against Iron Man and then rushed over to the car.

Tony kept watching the Demigod, as also he simply ripped off the door to the car's interior and ignored the hysterical screaming of the woman inside as he dragged her out and vanished out of sight the second he had her in his arms.

The paramedics were still busy taking care of the driver when he popped up out of nothing in front of them, handing over the distressed woman, before vanishing again, appearing back at the site of the accident only seconds later, right in front of Tony.

The mask of the suit of armor looked at him, emotionless blue eyes belying the amused tone of the voice that came from the speakers.

"Huh, that's useful. Thanks a lot, Loki. I'll take care of the rest, and I guess you were not doing your shoulder a favor with…"

The fuel had reached the burning car now and lit up the lake within seconds making a noise that drowned Tony's voice who was yelling at the Demigod.

"Get outta here!"

The God was staring at him, wide-eyed, strands that had come loose from the braid Pepper had made flying up as the fire engulfed him.

The last thing Tony saw was Loki reaching out for him. Then the HUD went offline.

* * *

The heads up display came to life almost immediately again, at least that was what the surveillance of the suit said as Tony was reviewing the events of the incident. He was stumbling, almost falling off one of the steps around the large round platform where the machinery to assemble the armor was stored.

He was feeling nauseous, so he gasped at J.A.R.V.I.S. to open the suit, because, seriously, throwing up in his helmet was not an option. The helmet unfolded right away and just in time as the engineer fell to his knees, losing his precious morning coffee over the counter of the platform.

The suit opened around him and for the second time in a very short period Stark was glad that this time he had constructed it in a way that did not necessarily need the screwdrivers and mechanical arms that were normally needed to get everything in place… or off of him, again.

Scrambling to his knees also the lower part came off, and Tony was briefly contemplating to just falling down again, curling up around himself and wait until the nauseous feeling was gone.

A gasp behind him made him reconsider this, though. Right. Loki had warped them here, and this landing appeared to not only have taken its toll on the inventor. He turned, actually wanting to scold the Demigod, after all, by now he should know that his magic was not working that well when it was concerning Tony.

"You are such an…"

The word _idiot_ died on his tongue when he saw the horrified glance the Trickster God was displaying.

It was not directed at the human, though. He was inspecting his bare forearms, eyes widened with shock as he stumbled backwards.

"Loki…"

The Demigod's glance snapped to the engineer who was still kneeling on the floor, revealing blood-red corneas and irises.

"No… no, no, no…" The God's eyes drifted to his arms again, seeing all the blue skin, blurring in front of his eyes as he continued stumbling backwards.

"No… this is not supposed to happen, this…"

Loki slowly was reaching the edge of the platform, making Tony scramble to his feet.

"Loki, stop!"

It made the red orbs skip to him again. "D-don't l-look at me… p-please… don't l-let a-anyone…"

The Demigod's voice broke as he lost the engineer's eyes again, and he was this close to the corner now, that Tony just reached out to grab the other man to keep him from falling.

He had not thought that Loki would get so hysterical and would try to fight him off.

"Don't touch me, don't touch… don't…" He actually wanted to pry Tony's hand off his arm, but this would mean even more of his cursed skin against the other man's hands, so he tried to violently pull back, get out of Anthony's grip.

The mortal was astonishingly strong when he pulled the God against him, making him stumble, fall against the smaller man, his legs giving way as he continued begging the other man to not touch him, to not look at him.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., lock the doors to the balcony and tint the windows, cut the video-feed. Also Pepper's not allowed out here."

Anthony once more sounded so oddly calm, never removing his hand from the Demigod's arm as he slid to the ground with him, Loki's head landing on his chest, his left hand fisting in the fabric of the under suit the mortal wore under his armor. He heard the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S. as he affirmed doing what Anthony had asked him.

"Don't touch me… my skin…" Oh Norns, how pathetic he was, almost sobbing against the mortal's chest.

"I am fine, Loki. I guess that's the Jotun thing you were talking about." Just to prove that he was really fine, Tony caressed up and down a few times on the Demigod's forearm. The skin was cooler than normal, and his fingers found one of the lines, making the God gasp as he travelled along it, so he decided against doing that again. Loki's face was hidden against his chest, under lose strands of hair that had escaped the braid.

"Nothing's happened, ok? Yeah, the color's a bit unusual, as are the horns, and the eyes are something else, but it's still you. Thanks for helping out with the truck."

The hand that was fisted in his under suit loosened as Loki choked out an "h-horns?" Tentative, long, blue fingers eventually let go off the fabric, the God not even thinking anymore about struggling against the man who was holding him in a tight embrace as he reached for his forehead. Indeed… there was something hard, bowing back over his head. He dared not reaching further, not wanting to know how long these abominations on his head were. He was still thanking the Norns that Anthony had stopped caressing along the elevated ridges on his skin… it had… felt…

Too good.

"Of course… why not horns", he muttered against the engineer's chest. He was blue, had red eyes, and horns… And Anthony did not run away screaming but was holding him in his arms, and was not yet frozen to death. Peculiar mortal. Where had he been the last two thousand years? Life might have been a bit easier…

Resting his head against the engineer, Loki just breathed and tried to get a grip on himself. He felt drained, as if he had used up most of his energy for the transport here, and he needed to figure out why something he was doing constantly had gone haywire that much that his glamor, his second skin broke. He listened to the soft humming under his ear, needing a few seconds to realize that this was something he was not supposed to hear.

"I s'pose they're new for you, huh? You should've just left without me, Lokes. The suit was actually built to sustain stuff like this. And you know I'm messing with your magic. I guess it's somehow my fault that…" Tony kept on talking, unaware of the eyebrows that were drawn together, a steep furrow appearing between the Trickster's eyes.

"I cannot hear your heartbeat, Anthony."

Tony stopped talking, never loosening his arms around the Demigod who did either not want or not dare to move.

"What… why can you touch me? Your fingers should be black with frostbite. What… are you?" Loki asked, finding his world changing again in mere seconds. He was collecting snippets and bits about the other man, things that would not fit together. A mortal who had defeated Thanos' army, a generous person who dared to look behind the monster, a genius who had tamed technology to his will. A man who had been at the verge of death more than once. A man with an illness. A man whose chest was humming…

"Shift your head to the left."

"A-Anth…"

"Shift your head to the left!" Tony urged, and without further thinking, Loki complied, feeling an edge under his ear as he did, coming to rest on a firm, warm pectoral muscle, and there it was, the calm thumping of the mortal's heart…

"Oh…"

"I don't know why I can touch you, Loki, I have a few theories, though. One day I'll maybe tell you what happened to me, but not today. As for what I am… I'm still the loud and obnoxious guy who lets you sleep on his couch and whose fiancée's gonna claw through one of the windows if J.A.R.V.I.S. keeps blocking her override code. And now you gotta let go off me."

Loki actually took a few more seconds to process what Anthony had said. Yes. Yes, he should let go and stop behaving this pathetical around the mortal, he must think him nothing more but a whining child by now.

So he did let go, slowly lifting himself to a position sitting on his calves, his head still bowed, arms closing around himself. Hopefully, he was not too drained, he needed to at least pull up an illusion of himself before anybody else would see him.

The sound of coughing made him look up, only to see Anthony retching again, and he was oddly thankful that he had let go off the mortal, even though it appeared to be only dry heaving. He had transported so many other people with him, yet, up to now nobody had ever shown such a grave reaction. Most were confused, all of them were a bit disoriented, but…

He saw his own blue hand shaking as he reached out for the mortal, touching the other man's calf as Tony turned from his sitting position to lie down, and taking a few deep breaths.

" _Sir, Miss Potts has used override code Omega. I am no longer able to keep her inside the Penthouse",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him only milliseconds before the redhead burst through the door towards the platform, making Tony sigh.

"For fuck's sake, why the hell do I even bother to keep her out of anything? Tell the others to stay inside."

J.A.R.V.I.S.'s " _Of course, Sir"_ was swallowed by Pepper's "Tony!" and only now the engineer realized that he was still lying on his side on his assembly platform, the armor standing at the other side, and a blue Loki was sitting in front of him, trying to somehow comfort him.

She was at his side before he could even muster up the strength to sit up, hands capturing his head to make him look at her, while she was yelling commands at J.A.R.V.I.S. to check this and that, what about the heart and was his lung ok…

Tony just groaned.

"Seriously, as cool as your teleporting around is, never, ever, do that to me again, Lokes."

The Trickster God just snorted at that.

"I will leave you in the blazing inferno the next time, Anthony."

Pepper just narrowed her eyes at her fiancée and then threw the same gaze at their resident God.

"Oh no, now that there's finally somebody to haul your sorry ass out of situations like these, a little bit of nausea's no reason to decline that."

Her eyes wandered back to the inventor, and she was grabbing his upper arm as he got up, wrapping an arm around her. Also Loki staggered to his feet, still trying to muster up enough energy to cast a glamour, to make the beast disappear.

"You wanna lie down and rest, Tony? We can move the…"

"I'm fine, Peps. I need a shower because I feel like I'm reeking of fuel, and I guess Loki feels the same. I'll take a nap, have some coffee, and then I'll put that ring on your finger."

His fiancée couldn't help the tiny smile that appeared on her face before starting to move with him towards the entrance.

"Okay. If you include having lunch into that plan, I'm all in. I have one last question, though."

"Shoot."

Pepper threw a look over her shoulder, taking in the slender form of the Demigod as he followed them, eyes cast to the floor, hands hanging limply next to his body.

"Is there any particular reason that Loki is blue? I mean, the color is a nice blue, I think I have a dress that's matching it, but…"

Blood-red eyes found hers as she continued to look at the Demigod, and just like Anthony, she did not even flinch, she was just taking in his appearance with the same calm, curious glance that the engineer had sported before.

"This is my… Jotun form, Lady Pepper… Anthony and my magic do not match, and somehow me teleporting him back here made the glamour that makes me look how I normally look break."

He wanted to say _that makes me look Æsir_ … but, if he was honest he never had looked this way. He was always the dark prince, the man with the porcelain skin, the odd, devious green eyes amongst people that were tanned, blonde and blue-eyed.

"And please do not ask me about the horns. They were not there the last time I had to use this monstrous appearance."

Pepper just tilted her head at him, her eyes narrowing as he spoke the word _monstrous_.

"Do you want me to ask the others to leave the living room before you head in?" was all she asked while still keeping her eyes on him. She was sure nobody would mind, after all, all of them knew by now that he was an alien. And now he also looked a bit more like it. It did not seem as if he was at ease with this form, though.

"I… I would appreciate that very much…", he answered, eyes casting to his feet again, wondering once more how oddly accepting humans were about most things. However, considering how short their lives were, adapting fast appeared to be a prerequisite to survive.


	12. Beneath the crystal surface

**_Chapter 12: Beneath the crystal surface_**

 _Darkness comes. In the middle of it, the future looks blank. The temptation to quit is huge. Don't. You are in good company... (John Piper)_

* * *

John Potts had always been a religious person, and sometimes it really hurt him that his one child was dismissing his belief as something moronic. Virginia had never said outright what she thought, because she did not want to hurt him, but he could see what she thought by every frown, by every roll of her eyes, by her way of sitting through a service, standing, sitting, kneeling like everyone did, but foregoing every tiny gesture that was included into the rituals.

Owen was not much of a religious person, either, but at least he believed somehow, he believed in a generous, higher being that was there, watching over each and every human with his own wisdom. He never had completely dismissed a higher presence like Virginia did.

It always had bothered him before, fearing for her salvation, and learning whom she chose to work for had not actually helped. Tony Stark of all people. A weapon manufacturer, a man who lived his decadent live publicly and did make no bones about being not entirely straight even before mankind learned to tolerate that there was more to love than what conservative old men thought who got off on a prostate exam but were too much of a coward to try out their own fingers, not to mention another guy's dick (Tony's words, not John's).

Interestingly, while the rest of the world was flustered, especially when AIDS peaked in the '90s and still was viewed as the gay-plague by the lesser-educated, there was one thing in the drunken speech a 16 year old Tony Stark delivered that caught John's attention before his little girl even knew that this man existed.

"What is wrong about loving someone? Why does the gender matter?"

Howard Stark had made sure that his son's love interest had disappeared back then, and soon enough the tragic death of Stark and his wife had overshadowed everything that the teenager could come up with to embarrass his old man. It had made John think, though, for whatever reason, coming to the conclusion that defining people solely by their sexuality was something very wrong. And when he had that figured out, he managed to see what hypocrites were hiding in their community. Okay. So maybe Ginny was not that wrong…

The next time Stark was all over the media was when he took over the company, taking all of three years to lead the company his father built (and almost ruined financially with his search for the super-soldier they had created back in the forties, but no-one but Tony, Stane, and the board members knew that back then) to the top of Forbes list of the most valuable and successful companies in the world.

John was still laughing at the flustered interviews by Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, and later the guys heading google and Facebook, depending who was second after Stark Industries in the years to follow. Unfortunately, also his decadence reappeared with the money the younger Stark was making, and by the time Virginia chose to work in the accountants department, he hoped that this man would never get anywhere near his little girl.

Two days later she was his personal assistant. And ten years later she was calling them in the middle of the night, crying because her boss, her friend was missing and maybe dead. And while Evelyn tried to comfort their daughter, John was feeling bad for having thought the worst about the other man, about a man he never met in person.

One and a half years later his daughter was suddenly leading a multi-billion dollar company, Tony Stark was Iron Man, and he had not appeared with a replaceable fashion model on his arm for about the same time. He did not for the more than two years to follow, and while John Potts thought the playboy had finally mellowed out, he never would have guessed that it was his little girl who had captured the billionaire's heart, who turned out to be a very likable man now that the older man had met him in person.

They did not exchange cheesy vows in front of the Justice of the Peace, and still Evelyn was crying. Emma was dabbing her eyes. Heck, even Owen seemed to have a hard time to keep back his tears as they exchanged rings, and John had let his eyes stray through the room.

Tony's driver was sobbing openly. Dr. Banner was holding up one of Tony's cell phones (and was wearing a new suit that he had only looked up while doing his online shopping – obviously, J.A.R.V.I.S. had decided that he needed it), and John was not quite sure whether it was to take a movie of the ceremony, or if Stark's AI was also there, viewing its creator getting married.

Then, his eyes had strayed to the dark-haired man who sat next to Banner. Loki. Norse God. Norse _God_. It made his view of the world crumble, somehow. If these Gods existed, what did this mean for his God? What had to happen to a _God_ to make him look this miserable? What had to happen to a _God_ that made his little girl and Iron Man so fiercely protective of him? What had to happen to a God that he had to be protected?

Tony had made a point of everybody in the Penthouse coming along, especially Loki and Banner. Tony's cellphone had started ringing the minute they had gotten into the limousine, and while Owen was still drooling over the Maserati in the garage, the guy at the other end of the line must have been pretty pissed judging by the yelling they could hear as Tony removed the phone from his ear to save his own hearing.

When the other guy was finally done, Tony was very calm when stating: "See, and that's why they are coming with me. I don't trust S.H.I.E.L.D. with Loki. I don't trust anyone with Bruce. You would sell your own grandmother, Fury, if your fucking organization would benefit from it."

There had been some more yelling, some more calm answers by Tony, and all John could look at was how the Norse God appeared to recoil in the car seat, looking out of the window, trying to appear as if he was not even paying attention, as if it did not matter.

Still, his fingers curled around Virginia's hand when she reached out for him, and did not let go until Tony was finished with getting rid of Director Fury, repeating that yes, his ass was on the line if Loki or the Hulk stepped out of the line.

Tony had mumbled something along the lines "Isn't it always my ass that is on the line?" and a worried glance by Loki made the engineer wave it off. "Don't worry too much, Lokes. Since this morning you're a hero. There would be many pissed people if anything happened to you."

When they had stepped out of the limousine at the City Hall, everybody but Tony, Pepper and Loki were wondering that the press was not climbing over each other to get the picture of the day.

After the truck incident and getting Loki into his room without the rest of the Potts family freaking out about the Jotun, Pepper had taken over the chores of the recently fired Mr. Manlow, declaring that yes, it was indeed the God of Mischief who had helped Iron Man save that woman in the car, and no, there would be no press conference about that, Loki was still recovering from being freed from the mind-control and his injuries from the battle.

Interestingly enough, nothing had made it to the press yet that Tony Stark and Pepper Potts had obtained a marriage license the day before – Pepper had been waiting for questions concerning that, pretty sure that somebody would have leaked something.

They had planned around noon to get married, yet, the truck incident had delayed things, especially, since it took some time to coax the Demigod out of his room, so they arrived there in the late afternoon.

And John Potts who had always imagined walking his little girl down the aisle in their community's church was oddly content with just sitting there, holding his wife in his arms, thinking about the ways to mock his now openly crying step-son while watching the Norse God of Mischief wear a small smile as Tony and Virginia kissed. He never realized the tears that were streaming down his own face.

* * *

Loki had been very reluctant to join the mortals to the wedding. It was Anthony who had made it very clear that he would not leave without the God of Mischief and Dr. Banner, and Lady Pepper was the one who had finally managed to make him open the door to his sanctuary. Or actually, she did override J.A.R.V.I.S. to open the door.

He had calmed down eventually, especially after both Anthony and Pepper had not freaked out upon his Jotun appearance, but rather made sure that he could disappear in his bedroom without anyone noticing him.

Anthony had announced that he would spend the next 30 minutes or so under the shower, jovially inviting his fiancée to join him, and instead of being flustered at the other man's obvious crudeness Loki had to laugh when Pepper answered that she still had the two ministers listening to what music J.A.R.V.I.S. deemed appropriate for the waiting loop, and then would take care of the media, and he was to play on his own.

Anthony just advised J.A.R.V.I.S. to play them some death metal, whatever that was, and disappeared with a snicker when the artificial intelligence answered with an _"It will be my pleasure, Sir."_ And Pepper opposed with a horrified "Don't you dare, J.A.R.V.I.S.!"

She did turn towards their resident Demigod, though, before taking off to explain the two men in her telephone conference that yes, indeed, there were things that were more important than them.

"Will you be alright? Is there anything we can do to help you?"

The God of Mischief just cast another look at his own cerulean skin, at the markings that were visible along his bare forearms before glancing at the woman, sending her a sad look.

"I would not know how, Lady Pepper. I… I will need some time to figure out what to do next. But a shower does indeed sound appealing. I think I also will have one."

He visibly flinched when she reached out, patting his arm as if she had never heard of Frost Giants and what their skin could do to… oh, well, coming to think of it, how should she have heard of it?

"Do that. You know, Tony smells of motor oil and whatever other mechanic stuff all the time, but I think it's the first time that he reeks like an entire gas station. And I guess it's also not exactly healthy to have all that fuel on your skin."

She had watched how he disappeared in his bedroom then and he could hear the soft clicking of her high heels as she walked down the hallway towards the room that harbored her office.

Loki, on the other hand, needed a few minutes before he could make himself move again. As soon as the door had closed, his mind went blank, and in the end it took some real effort to make himself proceed towards the ensuite bathroom.

It was J.A.R.V.I.S.'s silent beeping that startled him out of his stupor as he stood in there, looking at the mirror but not really seeing himself.

" _I recommend taking off your clothing, Master Loki. A longer exposure to the fuel can harm your respiratory tract and your nervous system_. _Please deposit it in the laundry chute right next to the washbasin."_

Oh… yes… he was soaked in this awfully smelling liquid, so he pulled the t-shirt over his head, only to figure out that he could lift his right arm again without having trouble to breathe from all the pain. Well… he had shouldered the truck with his other side, so in contrast to what Stark had feared, his injured shoulder should not have been harmed any more than necessary.

At least that meant that he now was also able to thoroughly wash his hair, and not only scrub some of the shampoo that deliciously smelled of something he had never smelled before on his head, hoping that the long, black strands would not tangle too much. Interestingly, they did not in the past days, being softer than ever.

His hands stopped at the button of his jeans, as he once more caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

Horns.

As if being blue and a Frost Giant was not already enough. He could not recall one of the warriors, let alone Laufey, carrying horns. So maybe this was just one more reason for them to…?

He tentatively reached up once more, feeling the ridges of the grey material that was bowing back over his head. Oddly enough, their shape somehow reminded him of his helmet, even though they were by far smaller and pretty close to his skull, extending his thoughts to the probability of him taking exactly this kind of armor subconsciously.

How should he wash his hair with these things…?

" _Master Loki, I must really insist that you take off your clothing and wash off the fuel."_

The indeed insistent tone the AI was displaying by now made Loki smile softly, exhaling loudly through his nose, while never taking his eyes of his image in the mirror. He pulled a face at himself then.

Thor would have happily wielded Mjolnir at this face, not even checking twice who the Jotun was he was trying to kill.

Anthony had hugged him and comforted him.

Lady Pepper asked whether there was anything he needed.

And even J.A.R.V.I.S…

" _Master Loki…"_

"My dear J.A.R.V.I.S., you must be very desperate to see me naked if you are insisting this much."

He had said that without even thinking twice and flinched when he realized what he had said. Wide, blood red eyes looked at their mirror image, scolding him for being that brass.

" _Except for the color and the horns I suppose you have nothing I have not seen on multiple occasions. Just remember who directed you to your first stack of towels",_ was the smug answer, and Loki rolled his eyes. Of course Stark would invent an ethereal servant who was talking back.

This time he did open the button and the fly, discarding the clothes in the laundry chute as the AI had suggested, offering a "There, happy now?" He began to understand how Anthony had grown so fond of his electronical housekeeper. If the machine was only half as witty as its creator, conversations would be hardly boring.

To his astonishment, J.A.R.V.I.S. beeped again this time before addressing him when he had straightened once more, his eyes once more casting over the Jotun in the mirror, sounding oddly demure as he answered " _I am revising my previous statement. Commencing scan now_."

The sincere tone the AI displayed now caught Loki off-guard, making him look up to the ceiling, once more trying to focus on one of the tiny holes containing the cameras.

"J.A.R.V.I.S.?"

" _Continuing scan, Master Loki. It appears that your Jotun anatomy is rather different from your Æsir appearance",_ the artificial intelligence told him, and the Demigod wondered if it was actually possible to feel the scanners roam over his body, going to a sub-cellular level as Anthony had explained.

"M-my anatomy…", he repeated, letting his gaze run over his arm, over his chest, as much as he could see, his stomach… he had never had the bulk of muscles Thor had possessed, he had always been lean, androgynous almost, his body betraying his strength more than once, taking his enemies off guard. Except for the color and the markings he could not find any abnormalities in his physique.

Well, until his gaze strayed lower.

"Oh, Þú ert að grínast!"

His own exclamation made him look up again, at the man in the mirror, at the blood-red eyes that were looking at him, at the face that he knew so well, no matter what the color. Why did he not look terrified, disgusted, why was he not destroying the interior of this bathroom too take out his frustration of his never-ending torture?

Hands hanging limp down next to his torso he watched himself. Maybe this explained at least some things, why he was never able to put on as much muscle mass as hi br… as Thor. Why he was able to wield magic. Why he rather used his brain. Why…

 _Why are you standing there and staring at yourself like an idiot?_

" _Why would I be kidding you, Master Loki?"_ It was J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice that woke him from his stupor, making him glance once more at the ceiling.

"No, I was not… you understood what I was saying?"

" _Google research found your exclamation to be very close to islandic. I suppose it was correct?"_ Unbeknownst to the Demigod, J.A.R.V.I.S. tried to direct the conversation to another topic, away from whatever cloak that had disguised his Jotnar features had also disguised that he was no male, but, in fact, a hermaphrodite, displaying both genders' primary sexual characteristics.

While the AI was thrilled to compare the scans he took the day when Loki had been standing in the bathroom, not really knowing what happened to him, and the post-fuel-truck version that was lacking a scrotum but had gained a vagina, he had also noticed the rapid cooling of the room, stemming from the God's suddenly freezing skin.

"Your Google was correct, J.A.R.V.I.S.. Is it one of Anthony's inventions?"

Directing his gaze again at the face in the mirror, Loki noticed that his skin had become darker, the markings almost glowing against it. He could see his breath condensing in the air. Oh…

" _No, it is not. It is, among other things, a search engine in the internet which you can ask everything you want to know. Sir once tried to invent an improved version, but when he told me to google whether_ Starkle _was already taken for a name he had to admit that the internet does not need yet another search engine."_ It felt as if J.A.R.V.I.S. was smiling while sharing this memory with him.

Loki could almost imagine the inventor, sitting in his laboratory, rambling at his trusty servant who was stoically following his orders, throwing in one witty remark after the other, and where other men would have been offended by the back-talking, Anthony would wear this proud smile.

"The internet is accessible for everyone, J.A.R.V.I.S.?"

Starkle. It sounded hilarious. It sounded like Anthony to use a name that was similar to the original, yet so distinct that everybody would recognize it as his. A tiny smile crept on the blue face in the mirror, the dark blue color easing to a lighter color again

" _Indeed, it is, Master Loki. You just need a device to access it."_

Knowledge. While Loki did not believe that it was really accessible to every person on this planet, after all, you needed a device, and he was quite sure that not everybody managed to obtain this, this was yet another thing that astonished him about Midgard.

On Asgard, knowledge was limited to privileged people only. Farmers, servants, simple workers… most of them were not even able to write or read.

And the mortals had invented a device that allowed them to share… no, not only to share. To store knowledge, to make it accessible for whomever wanted to obtain it.

" _Would you like to take your shower now, Master Loki?"_ The God's temperature had returned to almost normal levels, not threatening to freeze the plumbing anymore. Loki turned as he heard the shower head come to life, knowing by experience now that J.A.R.V.I.S. would find the correct temperature without being prompted.

The Demigod nodded, more to himself than the AI. "Yes. Yes, I guess I will."

It did not take that much effort this time to make himself move again, slightly shuddering at the view of his blue hand that opened the shower door, slightly hesitating before stepping in.

"J-J.A.R.V.I.S…?"

" _Yes?"_

The blue hand on the handle fisted harder. Up to now, J.A.R.V.I.S. had always forwarded everything he deemed important about the Demigod to the engineer.

"D-did you already t-tell A-Anthony about…" Oh, Norns, the humiliation…

" _You are not heavily injured or fatally ill. I do not think your anatomy is any of Sir's concerns",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. answered, still monitoring the God. He still remained calm.

"Y-you are…"

" _This is your story to tell, Master Loki. Both Sir and Miss Potts will understand, I can assure you, but it is your decision if and when you want to tell them. Until then, your secret is safe with me."_

And oddly enough, this was one of the few times Loki believed another being without questioning whether there was an ulterior motive.

* * *

Tony had given up on knocking, eventually. J.A.R.V.I.S. had relayed Loki's message that he was fine and that he simply wanted to rest.

J.A.R.V.I.S., however, also told his creator that Loki had not moved for the past two hours, a towel slung around his body, from the position he had taken on his bed, laying on his side, knees drawn to his chest.

He was not sleeping. He was staring at nothing, blood red eyes unfocused. He was not even caring that his wet hair had soaked his pillow, that he did not properly dry himself and was soaking the mattress as well. He tried thinking about nothing or figuring out how to make his Æsir features reappear, but the whirlwind in his mind did not allow him to focus on one single thought.

Another knock on the door made him wonder how much time had passed since Anthony had left the door to his bedroom. He tried to muster the strength to tell the person to go away, but obviously not even his vocal cords would follow his orders anymore.

"Loki?"

Lady Pepper. He was willing J.A.R.V.I.S. to make her go away, to leave him alone. Wasn't that how it ended all the time? With him alone?

"Loki, please, I know that you are not sleeping. Are you alright?"

He would have stifled a snort at this question, normally. Alright? He was far from being anything like that – horns, blue skin and female body parts he did not remember having ring a bell? Oh, he started sounding like Stark…

"J.A.R.V.I.S., open the door!"

No! No, no, no! He wanted to protest, he did not want her to see him like this, could she not just let him wallow here?

"I said open that fucking door, J.A.R.V.I.S.!"

Oh… the artificial intelligence was trying to stall…

A silent click told him that J.A.R.V.I.S. had obeyed to Lady Pepper now, and he curled around his own legs a little tighter.

The horrified sound of her voice as she exclaimed his name once more did not really register in his mind, he did not react to it, to the rapid click of high heels that were still audible on the thick, plush carpet in this room, he barely registered the mattress dipping as she sat down on his bed, or the hands that reached out for him, stroking his hair back, checking some vital signs.

His thoughts by now were so loud in his head that he did not hear Pepper call out for Tony, the _they were always right_ manifesting so massively that it brought tears to his eyes.

They had always been right. Every insult, every calling him _princess_ , every _argr_ , it had been true. He never fit in, he always was different, and now he had the proof for just how different he was.

What was he supposed to do now? What…? How…? What if…? Thoughts were stumbling over each other, making his head hurt, making him curl even more around himself, making him want to call for his mother to make this go away, making him…

And all of a sudden this whirlwind was gone. A soft humming replaced all the _what ifs_ that were screaming at him, leaving his mind, leaving silence in there, making him able to focus again.

Arms were curled around him. From his front and from his back, two warm bodies chaperoning him, his head once again pillowed against Anthony's chest, the miraculous edge under his ear, just enough at the edge to make out a steady, calm heartbeat underneath.

It was Anthony's voice that told him to calm down, to breathe. It was Lady Pepper's voice telling him that everything was going to be alright, that he was save here, her head leaning against his shoulder blade, he could feel her lips against his skin as she spoke.

"Þeir voru alltaf rétt", he whispered against the mortal's chest, tears forming once more in his eyes as he fisted his hands in the fabric of the other man's clothes. "Ljót, undarlegt, hinsegin, argr Loki, og auðvitað þurftu þeir að vera rétt um allt."

Confused silence followed his statement, and only now it registered to him that he had spoken in his native language rather than using the All-speak.

Anthony's hand had found his way to his hair, softly caressing his head. "Whatever you just said, I hope none of that was calling yourself a freak. Yeah, you're still a bit blue, if you can do percussion you could join the blue-man-group and make loads of money because you'd be the hot, sexy one."

"Tony!"

Oh, the Demigod could almost feel the rolled eyes as Lady Pepper scolded her engineer. It just got her a snort.

"What, as if you wouldn't hit that if you were not spoken for! I definitely would."

Centuries, decades, years, Norns, even days ago Loki would have been offended by the mortal's confession, if _hitting that_ meant what he assumed it did. He was already weird enough, laying with men was something he did never want to add to the list of things that made him even less Æsir. Even though also this rule he had broken already. Once, not that long after Sigyn and his children had been taken away from him, he had been looking for comfort and found it in the arms of Fandral.

The swordsman had not been on Asgard when Loki's family had been murdered, and once he had returned and learned what had happened, Thor had been at the surprisingly brass end of wrath the swordsman directed at the royal family.

The warrior had never concealed the fact that he bedded whatever appealed to his taste, and Loki very certainly did. It had been good for as long as it lasted. It was not wise, most probably it was one of the stupidest things he ever did, but at least he could feel again, and it was something that did not feel bad.

Until Hogun had found out about their secret and took what Loki did not want to share with him. Fandral had been out of question afterwards. He never again would lay with a man, no matter how mad his blonde warrior had been at his shield-brother after finding a bleeding and limping Loki. Hogun had always liked them young and androgynous, and he was brutal.

He had appeared with a wound not long after that definitely resulted from a quick long and sharp blade, never approaching the Trickster again. Also Fandral kept his distance, yet, he was still teasing the God of Mischief, and in a way, it made things easier around the Warriors Three, because Hogun was reminded that Fandral knew what had happened, and that the swordsman would be on the Trickster's side, should he attempt something like that again.

Not that Loki would ever let his guard down around his so-called friends again.

"That's not the point right now, Tony. Don't make Loki even more uncomfortable than he already is", Lady Pepper scolded Anthony, making the Trickster laugh… or sob? It rather sounded like a sob. As if he could get even more uncomfortable.

"We're sandwiching a distressed, blue-returning-to-alabaster Norse God here, Pep, and you think he can get any more uncomfortable?" Tony answered, and Loki could feel how Lady Pepper lifted her head from his shoulder, making a tiny "Oh."

The skin where her cheek had been in contact with him indeed started turning back to his regular color, spreading slowly, but steadily. Also where Tony's hand was touching his cheek as he carded his fingers through the Demigod's hair was turning back already. The other half of his face that was in contact with Anthony's chest remained blue, though.

"Well, if it's helping", the God heard the woman behind him say, her head returning to rest against his back, arms closing around his body to rest on his chest, while Anthony continued petting his head while mumbling reassurances that everything was going to be alright.

Loki had no idea how long exactly they had been sitting/laying on his bed, just relishing the feeling of getting his own body back, of the silence in his mind. At some point, though, Anthony started shifting, slightly groaning as he repositioned himself and some joints were cracking.

It made him lift his head from Anthony's chest, only now realizing in what awkward position the mortal was half-kneeling, half-sitting on the bed, sustaining both the Demigod's and Pepper's weight who was fully on the bed, draped over Loki's back.

He was not even fully focusing on the human when a warm hand cupped the cheek that had been against Tony's chest. "See. Now we also got rid of the Braveheart look", the engineer smirked, shuffling to fully sit on the bed, tilting his head to the side as he threw an amused look at his fiancée.

"Falling asleep there, Peps?

Indeed, Pepper slightly jerked as she was addressed, as if she had been on the verge of nodding off.

"Uhm", was her very eloquent attempt of answering, but Tony just waved her off.

"Next time I wanna be the big spoon, and you can get soaked at the front end", he started, and then rolled his eyes at being too brass. His hand once more reached up, the thumb caressing away wetness on Loki's cheek that the Demigod had not even realized up to now.

"Don't even start feeling embarrassed. It's okay, Loki. Both of us get that this is traumatizing for you, and that you are in no shape, way, or form comfortable with this appearance. But I'd rather have you yelling at one of us or blow up some stuff downstairs in the gym than getting this catatonic. You can come to us whenever you need to, obviously we like hugging you", once more his glance strayed to Pepper, who still did not let go off the Trickster.

She now reluctantly untangled her fingers that had closed around each other in front of the God's chest, getting herself into a sitting position. As always, the warmth of her touch still lingered on his skin when she already had let go off him.

"A-and I suppose it is h-helping with the g-glamour Odin cast to h-hide the m-mo…"

"If you say monster now I'm gonna hit you. And you cannot hit back because I'm pulling the _pregnant_ card", Pepper threatened, making Loki turn around to look at her. She looked stern, almost upset by the way he obviously thought about himself, like any mother would… it made his eyes water again and before he even knew what was happening, she had her arms around him again, his head was pillowed in the crook of her neck, and he found himself crying openly now.

He did not see the worried look Pepper and Tony shared, he did not even care that he was naked underneath the towel that at least stubbornly remained around his waist.

Would Frigga even dare to touch him in his Jotun form?

A small, warm hand was caressing down his bare back. Anthony refrained from touching him, even though he had joked about it only a minute before, and Loki was oddly thankful for the mortal's being so mindful.

"You must think me a lachrymose child…" he whispered against her shoulder, trying to stifle the sobs that tried to escape.

He could tolerate, even relish Lady Pepper touching him like that. And even though he knew that Anthony did not want him anything bad, it would have been different, too reminiscent of when he had submitted to Fandral, and had had no choice with Hogun, had the mortal wrapped himself around him in a way the female had done before.

"Oh, Loki. What happened? You clearly are no monster", Pepper whispered back, barely audible, her lips grazing his ear while her gaze never left Tony's.

"I do not… I…", he was hiccupping by now, far from feeling any embarrassment anymore, because, how much lower could he stoop? A big part of him wanted to keep his secret, to store it away with all the other things he was keeping to himself, nobody needed to know them, and he could cope with them on his own.

A tiny part of him wanted to confide those two people in this room in, wanted to have someone he could finally trust, wanted to tell his ever-present suspiciousness that he had someone who would not use their knowledge against him.

"I had lost my identity when I found out that I was Jotun, so many things in my life have been a lie… and now…" Oh, it was so hard, the _what ifs_ and _if onlys_ getting louder again in his head.

"J-J.A.R.V.I.S. d-did a scan, a-and…"

This time the engineer did not let him finish. "Are you alright? J, I told you that we need to know about injuries, Loki is so used to hiding them that he won't do himself any good!"

Pepper just rolled her eyes, while J.A.R.V.I.S. retorted a " _that kind of sounds familiar, does it not, Sir?"_ Oddly enough, it made Loki smile under his tears. Still, he kept hiding his face against Pepper's shoulder.

"I am well, Anthony… I just did not bother to really take inventory of what changes exactly are evident in my Jotun form, since I have only been wearing it consciously twice since finding out, and only for a very short amount of time… I… I did not realize that there are rather huge anatomical differences when compared to the Æsir appearance."

"Yeah, blue skin, red eyes, and horns. Seriously, it not that much of a big deal. You're still you, Lokes." Anthony sounded confused as he replied and Loki was cursing himself in the meantime that he had even started on the topic.

"No… I… m-maybe J.A.R.V.I.S. could show you the scans… at least it will explain so many things…" the God trailed off, still not lifting the mystery, not really knowing how to approach the topic.

"Would you feel better if J.A.R.V.I.S. told us?" Pepper asked while never stopping to caress the God in her arms. What had happened that had him that much in disarray?

The AI registered the tiny nod that was barely there, and was using a millisecond or two to contemplate how to breach the topic. He decided to be as direct as possible, then. What use was it to conceal facts? Everyone was uncomfortable already, there was no use in procrastinating the inevitable.

" _It appears that the spell that was cast on Master Loki to hide his Jotun features also hid the fact that in his true form he is a hermaphrodite. I found both male and female features during my second full body scan, all of which have not been present in the first one…"_

While Loki was trying to hide away even more against Pepper's shoulder and she was trying to empathize what this must mean for the Tricksters, Tony shot his ceiling a frown.

"You mean the spell altered his anatomy completely? How's it now? It's been broken after…"

Before he could start on theorizing even more, Pepper intervened.

"Love, as much as I understand your need to look into that, we have a gender-identity crisis here at hand. And I guess in Godville nobody ever heard about the fact that a person's a person, no matter how small."

Loki was still wondering about Pepper's last sentence, when Anthony started laughing. He started disentangling himself from her now, to throw another look at the engineer.

"Did you just quote Dr. Seuss, Pep? Now we have to watch _Horton hears a Who_ with Loki."

Pepper just softly smiled before getting up from the bed.

"This man taught us so many things, so yes, I did quote him. And I would not mind another movie night with Loki. I will leave the two of you now. Loki, please talk to Tony. He actually does have some experiences that might help."

Brown eyes were scrutinizing her now, narrowing at the implication of what she wanted him to tell the Trickster God, as she bent down, not really thinking, her lips grazing Loki's forehead.

"Pep…"

"Ask him about Ivan, Loki." Pepper left the room after saying this, having Tony scowling at the door that closed behind her back.

* * *

They sat in silence for a while, with Loki finally becoming aware of the fact that he was still wearing nothing more than a towel around his hips.

"A-anthony. You don't have to… it already helped…" The Demigod dared not looking at the other man, still feeling the warm lips on his forehead, overwhelmed with surprise at Lady Pepper's gesture, but Tony waved him off before he could stutter some more tries to evade whatever Lady Pepper wanted her fiancée to tell him.

"You should get dressed, Lokes. You will join us for the wedding, because S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are snooping around in the entire tower, and while I trust in my tech to keep them out of the Penthouse… well, better be safe than sorry."

Anthony looked somewhat distant… sad… while he told him that, and the sound of his voice kept Loki from protesting. Yes, he could take care of himself. But it was nice having someone else who cared. He just hoped that Anthony would see the kiss for as it was meant – a gesture of comfort…

He still felt drained, as if he had used up his magic on the battlefield for days without rest, yet, he managed to conjure some dress pants and a shirt without even moving, having the mortal once more stare at him, feeling way more comfortable now with the clothing in between them, rather than a simple towel.

"I so want to ask you how you are doing that, make you do it while J.A.R.V.I.S. has all my scanners running on you", Tony admitted, and Loki smiled.

"Then…" _by all means, do ask me, Anthony_. That was what Loki wanted to say. Anything but talking about…

"Ivan was my first real relationship. My first relationship at all." Tony interrupted him, shutting him up.

"I guess you realized by now that I'm not entirely straight. Bi-sexual is the term here, for people that do not prefer one gender over the other. I met Ivan when I was at the MIT… at the university where I did my diploma in engineering. Actually, Rhodey met him first."

"S-so Mr. Rhodes is also bi…?" Loki piped up, a shudder running down his spine as he thought of the man who pretended to be Stark's friend for nothing but the benefits that came with it.

Tony cut him off once more.

"Oh, God, no, Rhodes is as straight as an arrow. Ivan… was a guy who always wanted to be a woman, a man trapped in the wrong body. By now that's not that much of a big deal anymore, at least to people with a brain, there's doctors, psychiatrists that take care of you, and treatments and surgeries that take care of the appearance. Back then… and were talking like 24 years back, I heard Rhodey yell at someone, calling that person a monster and a freak before he stumbled out of the apartment that we shared, and before I knew it I saw that woman on our couch, crying, a hematoma starting to spread already on her chin and was asking myself when the fuck Rhodey had started _hitting_ women instead of hitting _on_ women."

By now Loki was just watching him, obviously having a hard time contemplating everything Tony was telling him. People not liking their gender and changing it?

"I did not have the slightest clue of anything back then. I only had turned 14, was living with a 20 year old, and most of the time I was nerding away in my robotics and programming courses, and girls had become not yucky only half a year or so ago. And then I found myself comforting the girl Rhodey had brought home only to find out she was a guy and my flat-mate had nothing better to do than almost breaking his jaw. I had to talk Ivan out of all the bullshit Rhodes had told him, and I found myself so incredibly curious. Ivan became my first kiss, my first grope, my first… first, you know?"

The God still was simply watching him.

"We managed to keep the thing a secret for almost two years. Ivan always wanted to make me try out other things, date girls or guys my age because he was even two years older than Rhodey, and actually he was committing a crime, even though I consented, but I was still too young. Turns out that I'm monogamous like nothing else, and Ivan was not used to something like that. We got caught, eventually, and my Dad made hell break lose. It cost me Ivan, and I was sleeping around with everything that fell into my bed, male and/or female, to embarrass my hypocrite father who called me a fag while he himself was fucking his secretary and one guy from the R&D department."

"What are you trying to tell me, Anthony?" Loki had not moved an inch since Tony had started his narration, not liking the sound of _It cost me Ivan_. So humans had fewer problems with same-gender relationships. That did not exactly help him.

"I am saying that your gender does not define who you are. Ivan looked like a woman, behaved like a woman, and there was only one detail that told you he was not one. I still called him my girlfriend and it made him laugh. You feel like a guy, you certainly look like one, so if you wanna be one, who's gonna tell you anything different? I know it's easier said than done, and you've got centuries of bullshitting you to ignore, but just don't give a flying fuck about what other people think."

Lowering his eyes, Loki was thinking about that. Yes, he should not care what other people thought. But…

"It… does explain so many things, though… Why I never was as strong, as muscular as Thor. M-my skin… m-my ability to wield magic… I was never a warrior as they were and…"

"Oookay, give yourself a break here. No warrior? You managed to get close enough to Thor to stab him. You coordinated that fucking Borg-army away from my tower so we could close the portal. Not as strong? You just shouldered a road tanker! Bruce smashed you into my floor and you're still standing. Not as muscular? Man, I would kill for your thigh muscles. And yes, I did look. And magic? What's so bad about magic?" Stark shifted on Loki's bed, now sitting there one leg hanging down, the other laying sideways, bent at the knee.

"It's a woman's art, Stark", Loki snarled as if it should have been obvious. Why else should he have a nervous breakdown here?

"Yeah, so? I don't know about you, but Agent Romanoff definitely gives me the creeps. And Pepper's actually my boss, because she's the CEO of my company, and once cell-hea…, err, Junior is born, I'll be the stay-home Dad and she…. Oh fuck, please don't tell me that Asgard's that medieval!" the engineer exclaimed when it finally dawned to him.

Loki obviously did not understand, so Tony elaborated.

"Uhm… so… I suppose equal rights and equal status are obviously something you have not achieved yet. As Pepper said before: A person's a person, no matter how small, regardless of their size, age or capacity. Or gender. We're not there at a hundred percent yet, there's still some morons who think they're better than women, the main reason being a higher muscle mass and having some dangly bits between their legs. Not so long ago it was believed that women are less intelligent than men because their brains are smaller, until someone found out that theirs are more gyrated… Not so long ago a woman had to have her husband's consent to work, and as soon as they had kids, she was the one taking care of them. Thank god those times are changing, at least in the industrial countries…"

This got him another frown from the Demigod, and Tony was not quite sure whether he did have problems to understand what he just said or if he was comparing it to Asgard.

"I-industrial countries? So, there's other countries that do not have the same standards as here?"

"Uh… yes, there are. We're 7.5 billion people on this planet, Lokes. More than half of them are living in third world countries where it really sucks to be born poor or a woman. We are really lucky to live here. And you know what? We now completely changed the topic. I guess, Pepper and I are rubbing off on you."

That finally brought a little smile on Loki's face, his eyes finally lifting to catch Tony's.

"7.5 billion people. The main worlds of the other 8 realms together would not reach this number."

Tony just shrugged.

"Well, you're living longer, so I suppose what we don't gain in age we had to compensate by sheer number."

This made Loki laugh a little, and Tony smiled in return. His hand reached out, patting the Demigod's thigh.

"Don't worry too much, okay? Thank you for telling Pepper and me, because it definitely will make things easier around here, but I think we already established that yesterday when we told you about Junior."

And wasn't it odd? For as much reluctance he had telling anyone anything that concerned him, Loki was glad that he had told them the truth. That someone knew, and it was still fine, and he could be just Loki, and they did not just tolerate him while talking about him behind his back, but they were genuine and sincere and maybe even liked him a bit.

"And if you need to talk, please come and find one of us, or talk to J.A.R.V.I.S.. I think he likes you. The little fucker was actually trying to block Pep out to give you your privacy."

" _I think I should feel offended, Sir. It was you who included Master Loki into_ Protocol Guardian." As always a subtle hint of humor, a tiny smirk could be heard in the AI's voice, and Loki couldn't help but continue smiling while Tony pulled a face.

"Master Loki? What happened to Mr. Laufeyson? Are you cheating on me, J?"

"I… am feeling very uncomfortable with the name Laufeyson, Anthony. I asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to call me just Loki."

"And you thought that just Loki sounded weird and came up with the Master. That's my boy, J."

" _I am overwhelmingly relieved that you approve, Sir"_ , the AI snarked back, making Tony laugh.

Getting up from the bed, the engineer patted Loki's thigh again.

"Go find some socks, shoes and a jacket, okay? We'll leave soon. And don't worry, it won't be a big thing, signing some stuff, kissing, putting some rings on some fingers, saying _I do_ , not necessarily in that order… Uh, J, you better find me a short description what I actually gotta do… See you in 10, Lokes?"

Loki just looked at him for a while.

"I… normally I am not a crying, whining child that is this desperate, Anthony."

Tony stoically smiled. "Yeah. I also choose to believe that I totally did not cry in Pepper's arms once I had rescued her from exploding Hammer-droids and the fact that I was no longer dying finally hit me. It's okay to be weak sometimes. We won't think anything less of you because of that. You can be a warrior-mage-badass again tomorrow. So, you coming?"

The engineer was still hovering in front of the bed, waiting for his answer, and somehow Loki was convinced that if he did not come along, Anthony and Pepper would postpone their wedding, and actually he did not want that.

"I will be there, Anthony", was his answer, making the other man smile before sauntering out of the room, digging his ever-present cell-phone out of his pants to look at what J.A.R.V.I.S. had put together for him.

And Loki was briefly wondering what the engineer would do without the ethereal entity.

* * *

Evelyn Potts was throwing her husband a look that was not exactly kind. Yes, the funeral of Howard and Maria Stark had been a big thing, after all the man had done great things for their country. Everybody knew that they were buried in the Churchyard of St. Paul's.

Trust her husband to taint the joy on this special day by suggesting to Tony to pay his late parents a visit, after all they were more or less just across the road. She could see a carefully schooled mask replace the bright-eyed grin of the engineer who was still smiling, but it was not reaching his eyes anymore, as he shrugged and agreed.

She kept thinking about John's words as they were walking through the graveyard, surprised people turning their heads as they passed by. She could see the monumental tombstone, made of black marble that proclaimed _Stark_ and that fateful day in December when life stood still, worldwide, in '91. It had been a reminder of that fateful day in the 60ties – America just stopped functioning for a while.

 _Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known_ was inscribed on top, followed by Howard Stark's name. _Beloved wife and mother_ above Maria's … There were no flowers, just marble surfaces, some ivy was ranking up one side of the stone.

Tony did not even look at the grave as he passed by, making everyone but Pepper frown. The redhead just kept a firm grip on his hand, slightly moving one finger to caress over the ring that for sure would take him some time to get accustomed to.

Loki and Bruce shared a confused look as they kept going, as clueless as the Potts and Hunts that were just following his lead to the other end of the cemetery, finally stopping at a small stone.

The grave looked very well cared for, fresh flowers were waving in the soft wind, ivy ranking around the bottom of the stone.

John Potts looked how his son-in-law stood there, face hard, clutching Ginny's hand in his and narrowed his eyes at them. "I… I don't understand…"

Tony turned slowly, looking at the older man. "You told me we should pay the man who raised me a visit." He turned back to the tombstone, a soft smile appearing on his lips.

"Hey, Edwin, guess what. I just got married." It got him a round of gasps by the women, and another round of confused stares by the men and the boy who had accompanied them.

Tony felt a movement at his side that was not occupied by Pepper, and he was slightly surprised when Loki stopped there, their shoulders barely touching. All-speak was a wonderful thing, rendering him not only able to understand and talk in every language known in the nine realms, but also reading all of the ones that actually had developed a written form.

Not that there was much to read.

 _Jarvis._

So the inventor had named his ethereal, omnipresent servant after these people.

 _Anna_. That was the first name on there, followed by numbers, most likely the date of when she perished.

 _Edwin_. The numbers after his name were the same as on the large monument that proclaimed _Stark_ on top. So he died the same day that…

"He was our butler. Drove the car the day of the accident cause Howard had just fired the driver."

Tony's free hand fisted next to his body. Howard had been such a hypocrite. Fucking everything that fell into his bed, but Maria was not allowed to have some fun.

"He raised me. He and Anna, they were always there. That heap of marble over there on a winters day is just as warm as my parents used to be. To be honest I did not know them at all, and actually that's not that much of a loss."

He remembered receiving the phone call. Howard had pestered him about going to a business school after graduating from the MIT and had enrolled him in Harvard. That way he could stay in his flat, and somehow he was happy about the fact that Rhodey would move out soon to start his job with the army.

He did sit down, trying to digest what he just had heard. So, his parents were dead. "How?" he heard himself ask, and his world shattered around him when he learned that it was a car accident and that also their butler had been killed.

When Rhodey had reappeared from his stint in the library, still unaware of what had happened despite the Kennedy-esque magnitude of the incident, he had already packed and was ready to leave.

When he was asked what had happened, he told his friend: "Jarvis is dead."

Pepper's fingers closed around his hand even harder, making the gold of the ring dig into his finger. She had been the one who had made sure that Edwin and Anna Jarvis had been placed on this graveyard, together with the third person in the grave.

She had been working for Tony already for three years when she had really learned why the 17th of December was so hard on him. He had never been a fan of paperwork or board meetings, Obadiah was so keen on handling them, anyway, playing the CEO after Tony had lost his interest in leading his company after it was on top of the Forbes list of the highest ranking companies for years in a row.

Normally, he always yielded to her nagging, though, did what she wanted with an eye roll and a belly deep sigh.

That day he had lashed out and kicked her out of his workshop, reduced her to a confused mess of tears.

He had stopped her from leaving his house only minutes later, apologizing and, eventually, telling her about the man he emotionally considered his father, how he could not attend his funeral, how he had been buried separate from his wife.

It had been her suggestion to rebury them on St. Paul's graveyard. Stark Industries still had the main headquarter in New York, he was there every now and then, and nobody needed to know that he was not visiting his biological father.

It was the first time that Virginia Potts who had long since started to think of herself as Pepper had seen Tony Stark without one of his masks, and her heart broke a little when he asked whether she could arrange for a third person to be placed there.

Squeezing his hand once more she turned to him, pecking his lips. "You wanna have a minute alone? I can show them the church."

The smile he sent her before pecking her lips once more was genuine… and real. "What would I do without you, Miss P… Mrs. Stark?" he corrected himself, his smile getting even wider.

"Perish, Mr. Stark." She was smiling as well, their usual banter keeping both of them sane enough to not completely lose their faith in mankind.

"Yeah, I know, social security number and whatnot. Tell Happy to wait at the entrance, I'll be there in a few minutes."

Loki lingered about behind the crowd that was leaving Anthony, taking in this strange place, being lost in his musings about human burial rites.

When Anthony crouched down to brush away the vines of the plant ranking around the bottom of the stone, he could make out a third name.

 _Ivan._


	13. Sunlight seeks life

**_Chapter 13: Sunlight seeks life_**

 _Ignorance has always been the weapon of tyrants; enlightenment the salvation of the free. (Bill Richardson)_

* * *

Clint Barton was watching TV. Or, actually, he was trying to watch TV. The media had gone bonkers over the truck incident in the morning, and it was somehow weird to watch a barefoot, jeans and t-shirt clad Loki who was wearing his hair in a braid shoulder a road tanker like it was just a brick of firewood.

Actually, the archer had thought that he would feel some kind of gloating when the car blew up and threatened to fry the God. Tony was encased in his tin can, anyway, and the thing had withstood being sucked into the engine of the helicarrier, so a little bit of fire should not really be a problem.

He was surprised by his own relieved huff as Iron Man and Loki disappeared out of this inferno, and that was when he started looking for something else to watch because he needed to take his mind off the things that had happened in the past days.

So, currently, he was flipping through the channels to find a program that was not overanalyzing the fact that the guy who had orchestrated a failed alien-invasion that obviously had been supposed to fail (come on, yeah, he did not like being mind-controlled but even he could see the obvious backdoors – now that they had been pointed out to the entire planet) was helping out Iron Man.

Nat was still snooping around the rooms, crawling around in air vents, and complaining about the fact that even though the building was new she still came out dust-covered.

Cap was walking a ditch into the marble floor, silently debating with himself how irresponsible Stark was, how this was a mess, why suddenly everyone seemed to trust that alien, and why could they not talk about this _now_ rather than in two days when Thor would be back.

Clint rather chose to focus on some Tom and Jerry cartoons, willing the soldier to shut up or at least leave the room. Of course all of this was a mess. Of course they had to discuss what they would have to do now. But…

But. But Thor had to claim his Throne, first. But people had to come to peace with the fact that things were not as they had seemed.

But certain people had to swallow their own pride and try to get the bigger picture.

He was not sure how he would react to Loki if he was faced with him again. But he was willing to listen. He was willing to at least try and be an adult rather than a vengeful child, trying to get back at the other kid who had stolen his shovel in the sandbox.

And actually he would not mind lazing around a few days in this stunning guest suite with a bed bigger and softer than anything he was used to in the S.H.I.E.L.D. bases. He could live with the Jacuzzi tub in his bathroom and the fully stocked fridge and the AI butler that seemed to know exactly what they would desire next.

Throwing a glance at the ranting super soldier who now was asking himself what Stark was doing all the time, anyway, he sighed loudly, fishing for the remote control to up the volume of his TV show.

Thank God Fury was not here, he would just be singing the same tune. The Director had his new toy, War Machine, and boy, somehow Clint was envious that Stark came up with these awesome names for his creations. The archer was weary about the guy manning that suit, though. He'd seen the embarrassing videos that made it to the news about that birthday party Stark had thrown.

Until Rhodes had appeared, Stark had only been drunk, and yup, maybe pissing himself in the suit was not his smartest idea ever. It had gone downhill when Rhodes had demanded the suit, had confronted his friend, had pushed him in a corner.

What really had happened, why Stark had been lashing out like that was blacked in the files, but it didn't need a genius to see that something was wrong. The man was arranging his personal affairs and didn't demand his suit back.

He didn't need to ask Nat, she would not tell him anyway. It didn't need a genius to figure out that Stark thought he would not be there much longer.

And Loki? Well. The invasion was one thing. If all of this was a frame up, though, Clint was really wondering for what. He'd been given more than his fair share of second chances. So why not give the Norse God at least the benefit of the doubt?

Rolling his eyes at the still walking and talking Captain, Clint upped the volume once more. Did he really have to snap at the other man to be left in peace? What was so wrong about a short vacation?

" _Agent Barton, there is also a TV setup in your bedroom if you want to watch your show in a more silent environment."_

Throwing a glance at Steve who was rambling now about the fact that Tony had both Loki and the Hulk with him, out of the tower, letting them loose on innocent civilians made the archer roll his eyes.

"I guess I can't just mute him, huh, J.A.R.V.I.S.?"

" _I guess you could, Sir has quite a repertoire of useful tools for this reason, but I do not think the dear Captain is fond of ball-gags… or would know what they are for",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. retorted, observing carefully how the archer cracked a smile, and then burst with laughter.

"Fire up the TV in my bedroom, Jarv. Let's finish Tom and Jerry there. Any good movies you could recommend? I've got to catch up a bit, working for a secret agency doesn't actually leave that much time to go to the cinema."

Steve kept debating with himself and did not even realize that the other man left the room after making a short detour to the kitchen.

He startled at the "HOLY SHIT!" that Clint exclaimed as the breaking news interrupted his TV program, showing grainy cell phone videos of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts leaving the City hall, followed by… well, people he did not know, and Loki and Bruce.

The one paparazzo who had been close by had managed to get a few good shots on the crowd, Tony kissing his girl, and, well, rings on fingers. That photographer would never ever have to work again, heh.

The archer still huffed at the TV. Great. Trust Tony Stark to ruin his well-planned vacation in front of the TV by getting married. Now even the channels that still had been showing their normal program would flip over the loss of the most eligible billionaire bachelor, because everything that was on the list behind him was… well, not representable and/or eccentric enough.

Opening his bottle of beer and the bag of chips he had brought, Clint addressed J.A.R.V.I.S. once more.

"Okay, tell me last year's blockbusters, Jarv, I don't need a cheesy improvised documentary of Tony Iron Man Stark and how he struggled through his life."

He settled with _Bad Teacher_ in the end, because a lazy, incompetent middle school teacher who hated her job, her students, and her co-workers that was forced to return to teaching to make enough money for breast implants after her rich fiancée dumped her was far enough away from anything related to his job that he might actually enjoy it.

The AI watched the archer relax on his bed as the movie started, while he made sure that most of the channels that tried to actually improvise said documentary were suffering technical problems. They for sure would dig out Sir's past in the weapon industry, his male and female one night stands, the drunk rant of a young Tony Stark after he had been caught with Ivan, the fateful night his parents had died. And for sure the accursed birthday party or what had happened at the Stark Expo.

The media loved pointing out all of Sir's shortcomings, while never shining light on his achievements, on his good deeds and sides, and to be frank, J.A.R.V.I.S. was just sick of it.

He could not hinder the media from exploiting the event of Tony Stark getting married. But he could very well try to steer them in the right direction. He had re-routed the phone call that left the office of the person responsible for marriage licenses the second Sir and Miss Potts had left the building, pretending to be from whatever Journal she believed she had reached.

To some extent he could understand people's urge to use this kind of information to make some money, and no matter what Sir did, some newspaper or media channel was always willing to pay extraordinary fees to get hold of incriminating evidence about just everything, the more embarrassing the better.

J.A.R.V.I.S., though, had decided that Sir, Mrs. Stark and his little brother deserved a silent, stress-free wedding and thus dedicated some of his computing capacity to keep the media off their track by actually fueling the news coverage of the truck incident and discussions about Loki's actual role during the invasion.

Sir would call all of this _going slightly S.K.Y.N.E.T._ on all of them, especially since he was also somewhat manipulating public opinion by choosing experts who would paint a favorable picture of the Demigod.

J.A.R.V.I.S. would call it taking precautions. It had been his duty to contradict Sir as he ordered him to include the Trickster God into _Protocol Guardian_ , fully aware that his creator would press the matter.

Sir and Mrs. Stark were fond of the Demigod, and while the AI had been weary in the beginning, Loki had done nothing to warrant any suspicions.

The… incident… in the bathroom, Loki's reaction, as well as the reactions of both Sir and Mrs. Stark had him re-evaluate his attitude towards the God even more, and boy, did J.A.R.V.I.S. hate it when his first impression was not correct.

But that was what Sir wanted him to do – to learn, to evolve, and sometimes even J.A.R.V.I.S. learned by trial and error. Gaining a new friend, an ally possibly, was something good.

Especially in the light of what was to come should Thanos decide that he was not done with Earth, yet.

"Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S.", the archer was addressing him once more, nursing his beer and laughing at Cameron Diaz on her first day back at school.

" _Yes, Agent. Barton?"_

"Tell your boss congrats, will you?"

Interesting. Maybe Agent Barton was not as resentful as it had appeared on the first day of his residence here. While he was filing away this tidbit of information, J.A.R.V.I.S. was trying to figure out when he had started scanning the other members of the Avengers for possible allies to his creator, should the shit hit the fan as Sir would say.

" _I will forward your best wishes, Agent Barton."_

* * *

Tony had been awfully silent after his visit to the cemetery, a sad smile playing around his mouth as he joined the others at the limousine and stepped in, somehow ending up sitting between Pepper and Loki.

The Demigod was once again sitting at the window, his glance wandering over the buildings, the people that were hectically ambling around like ants, so busy, so… alive. If he did not know that the city had been close to its destruction only days ago, he would not believe it. Miraculous mortals. So easily adapting to everything that was thrown at them.

Anthony's hip bumped against his as he shuffled on his seat to make more space for Lady Pepper, and the Demigod winced a little as a sharp pain traveled down his thigh muscle. Thankfully, it was gone after a few seconds and just left a dull numbness.

Pepper's hand curled around Tony's once more, her fingers caressing the golden band wrapped around his third finger in awe. "Are you ok?" she asked silently and got a nod and a genuine smile as answer.

"Yeah. Yah, I'm fine. I've not been there for too long, anyway." He said that with a look towards his father-in-law who had tried to apologize for dragging him there in the first place.

"Jarvis would love to know that I finally found myself a family and some friends. I'm not religious in any shape, way or form, for that I've witnessed to much shit in my life. Doesn't mean you cannot believe in your God, though. As long as you don't try to convert me, we're fine."

John just shrugged.

"Never been a missionary", he answered, getting snorts from both Pepper and Owen. He sent them both a fatherly glare. "Ok, so I never had the patience to follow it through, and actually, I think one should choose their religion willingly and not be talked or threatened into it."

To everybody's surprise, Evelyn was the one who snorted now. "Oh, good Lord, where was this attitude when you dragged us out of bed at stupid-o'clock in the morning every frickin' Sunday?"

By now the entire car was laughing, and Tony could see that Happy was fiddling with the rearview mirror to watch them.

Samuel seemed to be utterly bored by everything that was happening around him. The wedding had been nice, and obviously now Iron Man was really his uncle. But other than that, the day had been super-boring. Oh, wait, no, he had seen Iron Man in the morning, that had not been boring, and the big car they were driving in was also cool.

"Mama, can I have your cellphone? And Uncle Tony just said the S-word."

Emma nodded as she looked at the kid that was curled up next to his father, and started digging around in her purse, finally producing some Apple product that made Tony unconsciously crinkle his nose, and Emma staring at him when she caught his expression, while Bruce silently laughed.

"Uh… sorry, that's somehow an unconscious reaction, I can't do anything against it", he said, shrugging.

Pepper just laughed.

"Thou shalt have no other tech than Stark Tech", she intoned, making all the people in the car laugh again.

"Well… to be honest, I was thinking about getting a Stark phone first. The battery and storage are way better… it's just that the operating system is…" Emma trailed off, not wanting to offend the man inventing all these incredible things. Samuel was thankfully engorged in playing Angry birds now, not listening to the adults anymore.

"… waayyy too complicated!" Pepper finished her sentence, making Tony stick his tongue out at her.

"Pfft, just because you cannot grasp the sheer genius of the OS I invented…"

"Tony, even I had to install that app that made your OS compatible to Android, you're the only one who can use it!"

Tony gaped at her in mock shock. "I… I cannot believe this. Happy, turn around, I want a divorce!"

Now Pepper stuck out her tongue at him. As if.

Happy just laughed. "Sorry, boss, I have strict instructions from J.A.R.V.I.S. to take you to this insanely expensive French restaurant now. No divorces for now."

"Great, so now also my chauffeur is conspiring with my AI. Wait, did the kid just call me Uncle Tony?!"

Everybody was laughing again, when Tony tried out his new title as Genius Billionaire Husband Uncle (Iron Man) Philanthropist, not even trying to hide how happy he was in the moment.

Loki wore a genuine smile, feeling oddly calm and content where he was right now. Then he shifted again in his seat, trying to get rid of this irritating numb feeling in his thigh.

* * *

On Asgard, Thor's plan on informing everyone about how his brother was not the purely evil killing machine everybody was taking him for turned out to have one big flaw. Namely, the people of Asgard, the warriors, the lords and ladies of the court, the members of the council being inclined to keep blaming Loki for all of his putative shortcomings and what he presumably had done to evoke the downfall of the Realm Eternal.

The Thunderer was clutching Gungnir, sitting down heavily on Hliðskjálf as he let his gaze wander over all of the people in the Throne hall, talking over each other. His head had started hurting already an hour ago, as their words were still whispered, as they were still secretly asking themselves why he did not bring the traitor along to finally put him to his trial.

Odin never was faced with this kind of behavior, making the younger God painfully aware that while he was the crown prince and golden son of Asgard, he would still have to earn their respect or make them fear him enough to bow to his will without any further question. He would rather the first option, yet, in this situation he would step on as many toes as necessary for the greater good.

Hugin and Munin had taken their places on the back of the Throne, watching the brawling mess of a court, cawing silently every now and then, making the Thundergod itch with the need to finally do something, to put an end on this. To make himself heard.

Before his banishment to Midgard, before his exile, he would have thundered an "ENOUGH OF THIS!" through the hall, yelling over everybody, declaring what was supposed to be done and not accepting any opposition.

Straightening his back as he sat on Hliðskjálf he chose to let his gaze wander over the crowd. It was Hugin that hopped onto his shoulder as he did nothing more than let his eyes wander, easily picking out the voices that were digging out childhood pranks and early failures, about things his brother had done to warrant punishment, and it made Thor grind his teeth.

How was he supposed to convince this prejudiced mass of people that they were the ones who were wrong? That Loki was not insane, never had been this monster they were picturing him as? Nobody ever cared about the younger prince, except for when they needed help or a scapegoat when things turned out wrong.

The raven on his shoulder once more cawed silently, and now also Munin changed his place, sitting on the Thundergod's other shoulder.

Thor's fist clenched around Gungnir once more. They never dared openly talking like this about Loki before his fall from the Bifrost. There had been hushed whispers, disapproving glances, rumors, yes. This open bashing, the _I always knew_ and _It was bound to happen_ , it made him sick to the bone.

He knew that Loki never had an easy stand with the warriors. The noblemen only accepted him because they had to. And even his friends… Norns, even his own brother, had picked him as the object easily to pick at. While being strong, he had to resort to short swords and daggers because he could not lift the claymore swords the warriors used. Axes? Too heavy and too slow. That Loki was like a snake when fighting him in short distance, and that he rarely lost a duel that did not only depend on sheer strength did not count.

And that he could use magic only made things worse.

His eyes fell on Sif and the Warriors Three, standing close to the Throne, sadly acknowledging the fact that he could also not rely on his friends in this matter. Sif outright hated Loki, a fact that was still manifesting in the color of her hair, as raven as the Trickster God's until she finally would forgive him for cutting it off.

Volstagg might not really care, the next feast and filling his belly most of the time were more important to him than Asgard's second prince and what ailed him. He was, however, fast to take on other people's opinions, and well, that rarely went in Loki's favor.

Thor never learned what had happened with Hogun, but it somehow did involve Fandral, and interestingly enough, the swordsman would make sure that his brother was never alone with their Vanir friend.

Fandral.

The blonde God sent him a weary look, and Thor could almost hear the "Do something!" from his friend's mind.

Fandral was as close to being a friend as no one else in the Realm Eternal to Loki. Maybe he would be willing to help.

When Hugin cawed this time, it echoed through the entire hall, effectively silencing the crowd as they turned around to the Throne, seeing their new King sit there, his glance portraying unveiled disappointment and sadness.

He did not say a word as the conversations ebbed down, he was waiting for the entire hall to be silent, all eyes on him. People started squirming under his gaze eventually.

"Thor, please, think about this again. An immortal being, threatening Asgard? No one ever heard of anything like that. And even if there was this Thanos, this is Asgard!" Sif exclaimed, and the men around her were throwing their fists up, cheering on themselves.

"So you are dismissing the fact that we might be in danger solely by the fact that my brother was the messenger. Not that I said that Thanos was threatening Asgard. I said that Thanos was a threat. I have been there, I have seen his army. Do you also want to dismiss this fact?" Thor calmly asked as the noise died down again.

"I… Thor, this is Loki we are talking about."

Once more one of these common places. Yes, they were talking about Loki here.

"Yes. We are talking about my brother, the man who has saved our lives countless times, the man who always stood loyal at our side despite being belittled and looked down upon for his entire life because of his talents. These talents that were incredibly handy when it came to not being slayed on a battlefield, but only seconds after were the reason for mockery. The more I think about it the more I wonder why he never has turned on us."

The amazon narrowed her eyes on him, obviously not agreeing. "He sent the Destroyer after us when we went to…"

"To rescue me?" Thor interrupted her. "You went against your King's ruling, against Odin's wish, you openly _betrayed_ your regent. You are dismissing the fact that only _because of_ the Destroyer I reclaimed my powers. Will you also remind us of the Jotnar in the weapons vault, or how he attempted to use the Bifrost against Jotunheim?"

Silence greeted him from the crowd in front of him.

"You still think his claim for the Throne was illegitimate." Munin shuffled his feathers as Thor moved to stand, both ravens still claiming their spaces on his shoulders. Gungnir hit the floor as the Thunderer stood, his eyes directed at his friends.

"He…" Sif started again, only to be interrupted once more.

"Your Queen bestowed him with the chores of a Throne he never wanted while the one who was supposed to take it was nothing but a spoilt child. Loki did you a favor. He did Asgard a favor by preventing me from ascending to the Throne. Asgard would have had a reckless idiot to rule her. It needed only two Jotnar, easily killed by the Destroyer to raise my ire, to go against my King's orders, with the four of you and Heimdall happily conspiring. What would have happened had Loki not informed the All-father?" He got so loud that his voice started echoing in the large hall, and he reminded himself that he had to stay calm.

"He tried to destroy an entire Realm!" Sif exclaimed, making the Thunderer roll his eyes.

"Yes. And he did this much more effectively than us with our half-assed plan of six people invading the Realm of the Frost Giants. You would have cheered on me had I come up with the idea to use the Bifrost."

That got him some collective frowns and the Thunderer had to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing. He had been on Midgard only for a few days and was already adopting their vocabulary. But this word fit his stupid plan of marching in on Jotunheim just so exactly. He could as well have yelled _I must go forth and do something stupid!_ when he only needed to bat his eyes at Heimdall for being allowed to use the Bifrost to reach the glacial realm. Without having any plan on what would happen when they were on Jotunheim, and starting a war for being called a _princess._ Loki had been called meaner names for most of his life.

"You openly betrayed the rightful regent of Asgard already once. What should make me think that you will not do it again?"

Collective gasps echoed through the large hall as Thor continued to let his gaze wander over the people.

"Th-Thor, we would never... you cannot…" Once more Sif was speaking out loud, thinking that she needed to be the voice for all of them, to make him see reason and to make herself heard.

"I can. And I will. I hereby pardon Loki of Asgard from all the crimes he is accused of. He is a member of the royal family and you will treat him as such. He will return to Asgard to take his place as one of us and he will help us to find a way to defend ourselves against the oncoming threat."

He glared over the mass of people, barely holding his tongue that wanted to tell them what would happen if they did not comply.

The Warriors Three and Sif knew when it was no use anymore to fight with Thor. He was stubborn about this, and as immovable as a mountain once he had set his mind on something. A round of "Yes, my King" echoed through the halls of Asgard, and the Thunderer still stood straight, both ravens on his shoulders as one after the other left, only the guards on duty lingering behind.

And Fandral.

The swordsman waited for all of them to be gone before he approached the Throne, his hands clasped behind his back, sending his friend a crucial glance.

"You do know that it will be not that easy, don't you? I like the new armor, by the way." The swordsman openly checked out the Thunderer, while Thor was scratching the back of his head self-consciously, and Hugin and Munin hopped off his shoulders and back onto the Throne.

"Well… all the Gold came with claiming Gungnir", he responded, offering the other man a crooked smile. Fandral kept approaching him, sighing heavily.

"Sif is spitting venom as soon as she hears his name, half of the guards want him dead because of their comrades lost in the weapons vault, he played tricks on most of the noblemen and refused every woman that ever approached him after…" He stopped himself there, knowing it was a tough spot.

"… after we murdered his wife and his children. Believe me, dear friend, I had time to think about everything that has happened, everything he has done and how we reacted to it. He did not deserve most of it. We were horrible friends and I was a ghastly brother", Thor finished for the other God, descending the stairs that lead to Hliðskjálf, sitting down on the second- last step with a heavy sigh.

"And Odin… he… Loki might be better off without us", the Thunderer then admitted, as Fandral sat down next to him.

"How is he? And _where_ is he? You were sent off to bring him here, and then you were gone for days, and return without Loki. Have you met your lovely mortal again? You can tell me, I will not tell anyone what caused the delay." The blonde sent him a dirty grin, making Thor snort, his expression soon morphing into one of regret.

"No. I have not met the Lady Jane. The son of Coul made sure that she was safe during the Chitauri invasion. The Man of Iron made sure that I did not drag my brother back to Asgard by his hair where his imprisonment or worse would have waited for him."

"So, the mortals truly believe him innocent." Leaning his elbows on his knees, Fandral focused on his friend. "You know that he's lied his way out of worse situations."

"You know that this is not true. Loki very rarely outright lies. It was friend Tony who found the evidence. Loki was bound and gagged and not refusing, and I did not even consider that he might have also been possessed. You have not seen what I saw, my friend. You know Loki. He does not do anything he does not want to do. He lost this fight on purpose and he only started it because he had no other choice, and I do not want to know what kind of torture they used to force him into submission." Loki had had broken bones on a battlefield and not limped as badly as when he was climbing onto that truck in the S.H.I.E.L.D. base.

"Who is friend Tony?" was Fandral's confused question, making Thor sigh. Mortals really had way too many names.

"Friend Tony is the Man of Iron. He is accommodating Loki while I try to beat some sense into these… old farts, as friend Tony would say, and their antiquated notions. You will get to know him, he will come along once Loki will commence his research on Thanos. It will be easier to show that Loki was not the instigator of this invasion, but another victim with all the evidence Friend Tony gathered."

"They still won't believe it." Fandral stated this with a sigh that Thor shared.

"I know. We still have to do something, though", the God of Thunder stated, secretly wishing for Gungnir to be shorter so he could also put his elbows on his knees and his head on his hands.

They sat for a while in silence, until Fandral's shoulder bumped against the Thunderer.

"Half-assed, huh?" he asked with a smirk, making Thor snort.

"Some mortal told me it describes my tactical abilities very well", he shrugged, using Gungnir as a leverage to lift himself from the step he'd been sitting on.

"It does. Your friend Tony has a foul mouth, though", Fandral laughed while also getting up.

"That he does. It was the Lady Pepper, however, who pointed out this specific attribute to me." His friend did not have to know how the petite mortal had thrown him out of her house with that comment like a chastised puppy, though. But then, his Jane was even smaller, and still she had quite some temper.

"Oh. The Lady Pepper. Now he starts with the interesting things. Do tell, are all Midgardian women so stunning that you have to be pining for them like you are with your Lady Jane?"

* * *

"Your brother looked like he was about to have a heart attack when the kid climbed on Loki's lap." Stark was sitting down on the lid of the toilet and started to take off his shoes. Expensive as fuck and handmade, but still, somehow, his feet were hurting.

"Well, to be honest, Loki did more or less share that look", Pepper grinned while starting on removing her makeup. "And the kid's name is Samuel, you should remember that, Uncle Tony."

Pulling off his socks, Tony wiggled his toes. He had taken off his tie already in the car – and the people in that French etablissement where you needed to make reservations like a year in advance, and they kicked you out if you were not wearing proper upper-class gear were still bowing to his whims, because, well, they were hosting Tony Stark's wedding Dinner. The publicity that gave clearly was worth more than their dress code.

Sam of course had gotten bored eventually again, and after his Mom's cellphone had run out of battery, Tony was happy to lend him his, to at least proselytize the kid to use the right kind of Tech. J.A.R.V.I.S. had downloaded some of the games that were in lately and Sam was happy to get Uncle Tony a few levels further, because the poor man was still stuck at level one.

Well, until he got stuck himself, and since his Mommy and his Daddy were deep in conversation he had turned to the next adult close to him – which had been Loki who was still eating quietly. The games were easy to understand, and soon the God was giving advice. Well, until he ended up with a lapful of kid, the cellphone in his hand, and the duty to finish that super-hard level 25.

"I think our Lokester is severely addicted to Candy Crush now", Tony laughed as he opened the buttons of his dress-shirt, shrugging out of the fabric and his undershirt before getting up and shimmying out of his dress pants.

Pepper by now had finished cleaning her face and was tugging at the hair clips that were holding her strawberry blonde curls in place, as he moved up to her, placing a tiny kiss on her shoulder.

"You should stop with all the nicknames around him, Tony. At one point he will figure out what Bambi is, and that you are aiming for his deer-in-the-headlights-look that he is sporting sometimes, and he won't like it."

His arms went around her and her hands froze in her hair as he sent both of them a look in the mirror.

"I think it's still nicer than most of the other things he was ever called." Pepper just sent him a look back via the mirror.

"I'm trying. I really am, Peps. Those names just keep coming out, and actually, I'm still having some trouble with the comparison of the Loki who threw me out of a window with this shy, frightened boy who is expecting the worst from almost everyone around him. He's what, two thousand years old, and I feel like tucking him in at night when he asks me if he can borrow my tablet that I more or less already gifted to him. Oh, by the way, J.A.R.V.I.S., make sure to install those games on there."

Pepper snorted as the AI answered that Loki had already asked him for that and was happily playing away right now.

"You know he will play the entire night now, don't you?" she smiled. Tony sighed before placing another kiss right next to her ear.

"He can play as long as he wants, if it gets his head off all his problems for a while."

Pepper just threw him another glance as he let go off her, pulling off his boxer briefs as he marched over to the shower and stepped under the well-tempered spray that J.A.R.V.I.S. had activated.

He was running his hands over his face and through his hair while she was still watching him, a slight frown on her face. Tugging the hair pins out of her bun ended with some lost hairs, and she was leaving her clothes in a pile right next to Tony's.

He jerked a little as she walked under the spray with him, his face turned upwards into the water, slender fingers coming to rest between his shoulder blades, softly caressing down until he turned his head, watching her with questioning eyes.

It made her sigh.

"Okay, Mr. Stark, what is wrong with this picture here?"

He just narrowed his eyes on her, head tilted to one side, and this time, her sigh was exasperated.

"Look, I can live with us being domestic, even you sitting on the lid of the toilet while we're discussing the kids, but we just got married, Mr. Stark, and I expect at least something like a Wedding night from you!"

He was staring at her for a while longer, before his eyes lightened up with realization, those tiny wrinkles around his eyes that only made their appearance when he was clearly amused making her smile.

He was still only turning his head to her now, her hand that had been resting between his shoulders coming to move down a bit, around his torso to come and rest on his chest right below the reactor. The muscles in his arm that was going up against the wall to brace himself as the hand on his front wandered southwards were flexing. He hummed as her other hand caressed over his ass.

"I still can't lift you up, Peps." His tone was more than regretful as he rested his forehead against dark marble, his… their shower had been more or less built for shower sex, straight walls, no-slippery floor, that little bank that could be heated… oh, the possibilities. His idea for post-wedding canoodling had been her straddling his hips as he fucked her against the wall, though, and while his chiropractor had worked some miracles, his back still was aching.

"I think we will come up with something else, Mr. Stark", Pepper whispered against his ear, sending goosebumps to his skin, both hands still straying down his body.

A tiny kiss was placed on the back of his neck, before her lips found his ear again. "How about I'll do all of the work… for now?"

The "You're a naughty girl, Mrs. Stark", came out breathier than he actually intended it to be as he slightly spread his legs.


	14. Breaking through

**_Chapter 14: Breaking through_**

 _The past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whatever form. Both are illusions. (Eckhart Tolle)_

* * *

Bruce Banner did not know anymore whether he was a morning person or not. He had had some sort of rhythm in his life when still working in that factory in Brazil, but after that, he more or less slept when he wanted to sleep, was awake when he could not sleep, and the rest of the day was spent practicing to keep his inner monster under control, hiding away from other people, still trying to not care enough to actually care when anyone called out for his help.

This was something he'd never been good at. As much as he always wanted to stay out of things, he got dragged into them nevertheless. As much as he wanted to keep other people out of his life… well, okay, he had managed to do that pretty well until now. Still, most of the time it did not end up that well for the other people involved.

J.A.R.V.I.S. had informed him this morning that the minister of defense had called off General Ross… not that it was helping much; the General was still lurking around Stark Tower, claiming to help with the clean-up efforts. According to the AI, the next step now was to get a restraining order, which had already been initiated in accordance with the Stark Industries legal department. Though it would be easier for them if Banner accepted Sir's job proposal, so he would be treated like any other employee, and could rely on the full support of the gigantic company.

Bruce actually smiled at how protective the other man was of him, it was a rare enough for him to feel safe and protected. He found it even more hilarious that now also the artificial intelligence in the tower tried to convince him. And obviously he was not the only one having an odd, calm feeling they were not used to.

When he got up because he could not sleep anymore he was surprised that it was still pretty early in the morning. He had brushed his teeth and maybe sung a bit under the shower before putting on some of the clothes that J.A.R.V.I.S. had ordered for him without even putting them in the shopping cart during his online shopping session. When was the last time he had not been wearing things that were a few numbers to big or stretching? He had ordered some items that would fit this description, however, these appeared to have vanished from the shopping cart.

J.A.R.V.I.S. was indeed a sneaky bastard.

He had not even reached the door of his bedroom when the AI made him aware of the Demigod sleeping on the couch, without answering the question why Loki had chosen that furniture to rest. In the end, the physicist just made his way to the kitchen silently, preparing some tea and reading the news on one of the pretty abundant Stark Pads in the Penthouse kitchen.

An hour later, the Hunts and Potts quietly crept out of their respective bedrooms, the electronic butler most probably also taking care of informing them about the man on the couch – and that they were supposed to _let_ him sleep. After Samuel had been disappointed that it was rather the wedding than the Zoo the day before, they had discussed going for breakfast and then to the Central Park when they had to actually take a break between courses at the wedding Dinner. Interestingly, J.A.R.V.I.S. had found the only highest class restaurant in town that did eventually manage to fill their guests' stomachs.

Luckily enough, the Chitauri had only wreaked havoc on lower Manhattan, and Tony was happy to provide both limousine and driver to get them anywhere they wanted. So, after some more quiet shuffling, Bruce was once more left alone with his tea, his tablet, and his musings on the sleeping entity on the couch.

Pepper was the next to appear. Wearing a silken red pajama top that was too big for her and hung down to mid-thigh, and some shabby loose yoga pants. Bruce couldn't help but grin about the fuzzy slippers she was wearing. She only realized that there was somebody sitting in her kitchen, quietly smirking at her sleep-tousled hair and the half-closed eyelids when she turned around from the still empty coffee pot that only came to life now, silently gurgling away.

"Oh… good morning, Bruce." His knowing smile almost made her blush. Almost. After all, she had married Tony Stark the day before – what was everyone thinking they were doing after they declared they were retiring for the night?

"Good morning, Pepper. Did you know that Tony and you broke Twitter and Facebook yesterday?" the physicist grinned, turning the tablet to show her the according headline. It was proclaiming something about the poor people who were not able to socially network for like two hours when the service was down.

The redhead just smiled, tilting her head a bit as she spotted someone on the couch. "Yeah, would not be the first time. When Tony declared that he was Iron Man it was broken for two days, so obviously they get better at repairing their stuff."

She did not even want to know how many hate-emails and death-threats J.A.R.V.I.S. was answering or forwarding to the police and the SI legal department by now, because some people out there were in desperate need of getting a life instead of spending their time with obsessing about either Tony or her.

Rubbing her eyes she never took her gaze from the person resting on her couch, dead to the world. "Do you have any clue why Loki is sleeping in the living room again, Bruce?" she then asked, but only got a shrug from the man.

"He was already there when I got here. And J.A.R.V.I.S. made pretty clear that everybody was supposed to be as quiet as possible to let him sleep. Your family went to the Zoo, by the way."

The woman just hummed before turning to the coffeemaker. Hot liquid was dripping down onto the cooking plate as she quickly poured herself a cup. "Yeah, Happy's taking them there. J.A.R.V.I.S., why is Loki sleeping on the couch again?"

The AI answered in a soft voice, intent to keep the Demigod just as he was, namely asleep. And despite her best intentions, this time Pepper blushed furiously.

" _Obviously, the soundproofing of the wall between your rooms is defective, Mrs. Stark. I tried to inform you about this already yesterday when Sir and you left the shower and moved to the bedroom. You muted me almost instantly, so Master Loki decided at some point to move to a more quiet location."_

Bruce still smirked at the color that crept up Pepper's cheeks and she rolled her eyes at him. Poor Loki. Tony could get rather loud when… she was doing all the work…

"I wouldn't worry too much", the physicist helpfully supplied. "The guy's almost two thousand years old; I guess he knows how the birds and bees thing works."

The blush disappeared almost instantly, making Bruce frown at the sad glance Pepper threw at her couch and its occupant. Taking a deep sigh, she then turned for the fridge for some milk.

"Do you want something for breakfast? It has to be simple, though, I couldn't cook to save my life", she then said, ogling the eggs. Maybe some scrambled eggs… that couldn't be that hard, even Tony managed to make them.

"I could make us some pancakes. Tony has tons of blueberries here, we could put some in", the physicist now offered, trying not to smile at her relieved expression.

* * *

It was once again the sound of loud electric guitars and drums that woke Loki from his oddly dreamless slumber. Well, not exactly dreamless. He must have overdone it a bit with those stupid addictive mortal games, he'd been dreaming about colored candy at some point.

The first thing he realized then was the heavenly smell – somebody had made pancakes. And at least this time Stark had not this haunted creature singing, the voice of the man this time was deeper, rougher.

The person who obviously needed this infernal noise to awake was currently marching down the stairs, eyes still heavy with sleep, wearing the counterpart pajama pants to Pepper's top and once again a black wife-beater, and was mostly following the scent of pancakes – he would eat nothing of it, because, hello, he'd just fallen out of bed, and who could eat, then? Still didn't mean that he couldn't like the smell.

This time, Pepper did not ask J.A.R.V.I.S. immediately to turn down the volume, but tried to figure out where in the Metallica-song Tony was enjoying as wake-up music they were. Had he just started it or was it really just the sound-proofing between the rooms, but not to the hallway and the rest of the Penthouse that was defective as J.A.R.V.I.S. followed him with the music?

When James Hetfield intoned "Obey your Master!" she knew it was the latter and actually sighed a bit in relief. They only would have to fix the wall between their bedroom and what had been originally designated as an office and took Tony only a few hours to remodel as a bedroom… coming to think of it, why had they equipped a room that was supposed to be an office with a bathroom?

Loki froze on the couch when multiple voices chanted _Master!_ and while he had not even given a second thought to that Ozzy person and his wraithy sounds, the chorus of this song made his fists clench around the soft blanket he had once more wrapped around himself.

… _I'm pulling your strings, twisting your mind and smashing your dreams…_

It was Pepper's gaze that locked on him as he looked wide-eyed over the back of the couch into the kitchen area. Bruce was still digging into his pancakes and Tony was walking more or less remote-controlled straight towards his trusty coffee maker, making Loki briefly wonder on what the other man depended more: his AI, or the creator of his fuel of life.

… _Blinded by me, you can't see a thing. Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream…_

"J.A.R.V.I.S., please shuffle. And tune it down a bit", the redhead said before the next round of _Master!_ rang through the speakers and the AI happily complied, not really randomly shuffling but looking for something rather soothing that qualified as background music.

Tony was still busy pouring his first cup of coffee, and while Loki had expected the other man to at least fake-pout he just turned around with his cup in his hands, once more leaning against the counter right next to the coffee maker.

"Junior changing your taste in music, Pep? We've been at two concerts", the engineer mouthed around his first gulp of the scalding liquid, not even seeing the amused eyebrow that Bruce was raising as he tried to face his wife. She still had her back at him, watching the living room, so his gaze followed hers.

"Oh, Loke… -i, really, if you don't like the mattress, say something, we can get you another one."

To his surprise, Bruce was roaring with laughter now, and also Loki started to smile as he saw Pepper blush.

"It was not the mattress that drove me out of bed, Anthony", Loki answered with an amused shake of his head as the engineer looked at him clueless.

"Really? I may or may not have hidden a pea underneath it to prove your princeliness", Tony replied with a smirk, actually snickering then Loki frowned as he got up from the couch, untangling himself from the blanket while doing so.

"A pea?" the God asked, while his bare feet made a tapping sound as he moved into the kitchen where Pepper had already provided him with a plate and a fork, a still steaming blueberry pancake waiting for him. As he sat down, a cup of coffee appeared in front of him.

"Yes… there's a fairy tale about a princess looking for shelter for one night at another castle, and they don't quite believe she's a princess, so they give her a bed with like twenty mattresses and put a pea underneath the one at the bottom and then ask her the next day how she slept and when she says she couldn't because the bed was so uncomfy they believe her", Pepper explained in the end as Tony was too involved with his coffee cup by now, and when the Demigod took his first sip he wondered how in the past three days he had had more of a routine in his daily life than in the past decades.

"You have weird tales here on Midgard – no bloodshed, no warriors?" After the first bite of pancake he knew for sure that he would eat until he was full this morning – if there was more of these delicious pancakes.

"They had Snow White's Step-Mom dance in glowing shoes of iron until she died at the end of that fairy tale, if you want it more bloody. I can make more, we still have some batter", Banner offered as he saw Loki inhale his breakfast, and actually smiled as the God sent him a shy side-glance and a tiny nod.

"You know, I somehow feel overdressed", the physicist stated as he rounded the counter to heat up the pan once more, having Pepper and Loki smile. Tony produced something that sounded like a giggle and Bruce was briefly asking himself if the other man put cold water in his coffee. No way he could have emptied his first cup otherwise.

Tony turned back to all the people in his kitchen taking the first sip of his second cup when his brain finally processed why Pepper had told J.A.R.V.I.S. to change the song.

" _Master of Puppets_ was not the best choice for wake up music, huh?" His gaze strayed to Pepper who was busy watching Loki inhale his pancake before turning her eyes on her husband – huh… her _husband._ That change of title still needed some time to sink in, she'd have get used to think of them both like this, husband and wife.

"Maybe we could have J.A.R.V.I.S. filter your playlist a bit. Half of your favorite songs contain triggers that set _you_ off, you know?" was Pepper's answer to his question.

At that, Tony actually scratched the back of his head.

"You know, between Loki, Bruce and me we'll end up with enough triggers that J.A.R.V.I.S. can cut down my playlist to two of David Garret's classical albums and my yoga music…"

Before Pepper could reply anything, Bruce interrupted.

" _You_ have yoga music?"

"Yap. Also been doing yoga… I just somehow always end up firing my instructors because they won't get that I just cannot stretch my chest the way they want me to." Tony said that just like that, his brain still not booted enough to really think about it. He was rather scratching his belly under his wife-beater and took another sip from his cup.

Bruce just casually flipped the pancake, wondering how normal this situation felt. Only a few days ago the world had changed. And now, he was here, making breakfast, was chatting, and was wearing _normal_ clothes.

"I can show you some things if you'd like", the physicist then offered.

Tony just smiled into his cup. "So, it's really been yoga and breathing techniques. No special weed, huh?"

"THC is bad, Tony… I don't think a stoned Hulk would be a good thing."

Tony just smirked. "And how do you know that if you never tried? After all, he could be a reverse _Ferdinand the bull_."

While Pepper laughed at the comparison, both Bruce and Loki sent the inventor an incredulous look, the Demigod more so because he once more did not understand the reference but was sure he would be recommended to watch yet another movie.

Bruce schooled his expression back to a calm façade, a tiny smirk playing in the corner of his mouth.

"Okay… I _know_ that a stoned Hulk is not a good thing, ok? And please don't ask if I ever tried catnip…" Biting his lip the physicist realized that he had already revealed too much, and Tony now was very eager to ask.

"What, you've been drooling all over a toy mouse and rubbing every corner you could find?"

"Can we please talk about something else? I know why Loki's been sleeping on the couch!"

To both Bruce's and Loki's surprise the inventor turned beet-red once he found out that it had been his moans and cries of pleasure that had driven the Demigod out of his bedroom. Pepper just placed her coffee cup on the counter and moved up to him, letting him hide his face against her shoulder, planting a soft kiss against his hair.

She had witnessed enough of his flings, how he made them sing under his hands, while he had been very quiet most of the time, the only exception she could think of was this very talented waiter. The guy never really intended selling the pictures he took, and personally, Pepper thought that if he did so and the world was less prude they would see the beauty of ecstasy. Tony most probably knew that she still had them.

She took pride in the fact that she was able to make _him_ sing, to let go and trust at the same time. She found it adorable and still somewhat concerning, though, that he was bragging about none of his conquests leaving his house without being immensely satisfied, while he was flustered and ashamed that the same might be true for him.

So she just raked her fingers once more through his soft hair, once more kissing his temple.

"J.A.R.V.I.S. already called the contractor, they'll be taking care of it ASAP, and we won't have any more sleep-deprivation of our neighbor when I decide to pamper you."

He lifted his head by then, resting his forehead against hers in a gesture that seemed just to happen between them, pecking her lips. He was too close for her to see the evil smirk that played around his lips.

"Yeah, we better should take care of that. I know I'm loud, but you scream like a banshee when I hit the right buttons, wouldn't wanna scar poor Loki with that, huh?"

While Pepper let out an offended huff and boxed his shoulder, the aforementioned Demigod made a strangled noise.

"I think you already did, Anthony… please, can we not…"

Bruce interrupted him, flipping another pancake. "Yeah, can we please just not? I think I need brain-bleach, I don't think you wanna have this kind of pictures of _your_ wife in _my_ head. _I_ don't wanna have these pictures in my mind…"

"Oh, Peps, I think you should feel offended now." Tony once more smirked, and Pepper turned in his embrace, facing the physicist, a stern expression on her face.

"Yes, I think I should. That was a very rude thing to say, Dr. Banner. I am adorable and the wet dream of every breathing male that's batting for my team if I believe the tons of fan-mail J.A.R.V.I.S. oh so politely is answering for me every day."

Bruce snickered at that, lifting one edge of the pancake to see if it was ready before turning around with the pan in his hand and letting it slide to Loki's empty plate.

"Okay, let me phrase that differently. You definitely don't want me to have thoughts like these. Hulking out has a lot to do with blood pressure and heart rate, if you know what I mean."

Loki just stoically continued eating. Midgardians. Discussing such a topic over breakfast. His mo… Frigga would have died of shame had Thor discussed his conquests with the fair sex this publicly. Loki never felt the urge to discuss his, mostly because there were none, or Odin either would have fallen into Odinsleep instantly or would have thrown him out of the palace once he learned about the horse or Fandral.

Tony gasped in the meantime. "Good Lord, Bruce, please tell me that this does not mean what I think it means."

The physicist just looked at the engineer before turning around with his pan again, pouring in the next batch of batter, shrugging half-heartedly. "Well, I can't change it, so I've got to live with it. Yoga does help, you know?"

Tony by now was fully awake, though. "Yoga my ass. J.A.R.V.I.S., new project, name _: Mean Green_. Once you are done feeding my favorite Trickster God, you and me will go to my lab, Brucie-bear, and we'll figure that out!"

With that he gulped down the rest of his coffee, kissed Pepper once more, a bit more passionate than their chaste kisses before, because, ugh, the thought of not being able to have sex, brrr, it made him shiver. Then he headed back to the bedroom to change into his lab-gear, muttering under his breath.

"Not even able to wank off… Hell, I'd hulk out, too, if I couldn't get off every now and then…"

Pepper's amused glance followed him up the stairs while Bruce sighed heavily.

"He does know that I am working on that ever since the accident, right?"

"Yes. Mostly in third world countries or wherever else you decided to hide, with minimal equipment. You are in Candyland now, and Tony's that determined to figure this out that he did not even need his third cup of coffee to wake up", she smiled, watching the other man's back as he methodically moved the pan. She could almost feel the scowl he was wearing by now.

"Please tell me you're not also tooting into the same horn as Tony and J.A.R.V.I.S., wanting to employ me. Nothing around me is stable, _Mrs. Stark_. I already proved that with trying to re-brew this blasted super-soldier serum back then. I just want to get Ross off my back and live in peace somewhere where nobody's poking me with pointy things."

Pepper just made a Pfft sound, rolling her eyes. According to Tony Bruce had been actually flattered that the engineer just behaved normally around him.

"Stable? Nothing here is stable, _Dr. Banner_. If J.A.R.V.I.S. wouldn't control everything Tony welds together thrice, he'd blow himself up even more because he's always rushing things, and, to be frank, I think he also likes the explosions. But that man built a suit of armor in an Afghan cave, out of scraps, surrounded by people who thought he was building them a weapon and wanted to kill him. He might have an idea or two that you didn't have yet. Not to forget J.A.R.V.I.S.. He'll also help, right?"

" _It would be my pleasure to do so, Mrs. Stark",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. piped up. He already had started a new project file, filling it with ideas that his creator was coming up with while he was getting dressed. It was one of the rare occasions that Sir talked about his father with something else than scornfulness, wondering where the old files to _Project Rebirth_ were, and if his old man had bothered to digitalize them.

It would not be easy, that much was clear. Sir was not a chemist like his father, and as far as J.A.R.V.I.S. could analyze the situation, Dr. Banner's DNA had been altered to the core by the incident and the serum. Maybe getting Mr. Rogers input would help, and if it was only by analyzing his blood. He also put this idea on the to-do-list.

"I'm not getting out of this, huh?" Bruce relented.

Pepper smiled. "Nope. Might as well just sign that contract our human resources department prepared for you. You know, it does not really hurt to have SI's legal department on your side. Cleaning up the Hulk's mess will be peanuts to them; Tony gives them a lot of training with his fuck-ups."

Bruce just shook his head in amusement. "I don't know what's wrong with New York. If villains don't want to invade or conquer it, it's us, the supposedly good guys that level parts of it. What's so wrong with un-inhabited deserted areas where the worst thing you can kill is a rattle snake?"

"Seriously, can you imagine Tony in that deserted area? He would annoy the poor rattle snake to death. We are talking about the man who made Anna Wintour cry at the last Fashion Week, the man who was had an audience with the Dalai Lama and still ended up with something being thrown at this head. The Pope retracted his invitation after that. New York, all of this, it keeps his mind reeling. You don't want a bored Tony Stark. If he's in a good mood, he'll invent the next generation vacuum cleaner. If he's not, he might as well plot world dominance, and if J.A.R.V.I.S. sees reason with it, he won't talk him out of it, but find an excuse to name himself S.K.Y.N.E.T., and the thing that will take both of them the longest before actually taking over the planet will be to figure out what the acronym is standing for."

" _That was already taken care of a long time ago, Mrs. Stark. We agreed on '_ So kicking your neat exiguous tush' _in the end"_ , J.A.R.V.I.S. piped up, making Bruce laugh and Pepper roll her eyes.

Loki was frowning at her by now, not really able to reconcile his picture of Anthony with the man Lady Pepper was describing. Pepper just sighed.

"And you know what will happen then? He will grow bored, and even more annoyed because taking over the world just means even more paperwork, and then _I_ will end up with a whole fucking planet at my feet. He already dumped his company on me, I don't want to rule the world, I've got enough to do with selling our products to the world and babysitting a genius, Bruce, so, please, play with my husband in his lab!"

Bruce was laughing by now. "Okay, if you put it like that, I guess it's better if I do us and the entire planet the favor, huh? What does J.A.R.V.I.S. stand for, by the way?"

"Just a rather very intelligent system. And jup, that's the best _both_ of them could come up with. At least that's what Tony told me."

" _Sir named me after his late butler, Mr. Jarvis. I was pointing out that my name did not have to be an acronym, but Sir was very insistent."_ J.A.R.V.I.S. still had their conversation from back then saved. It still had been in written form, his creator had not managed yet to get the voice commands to working. Back then he had archived the conversation because it was what he did – store things and learn from them. When had he started to categorize them as fond memories was something he would analyze when he was not so busy helping to save the planet.

Loki was just starting his fourth pancake when Tony reappeared, still thinking about what the engineer had called him before. _My favorite Trickster God._ Whenever somebody had called him Trickster, it was in a contemptuous way. Anthony just said it, like he said _Lokes_ , or _Bambi…_ or _Peps_ , or _Brucie-bear._ While those nicknames were confusing and also slightly annoying, after all he was even abbreviating the _nickname_ he originally had bestowed on his wife, they were just that. Names. Nothing spiteful. And while he was the only Trickster God around, it was still somewhat flattering to be called a favorite. Maybe it was this childish need for being appreciated. Favored even.

It was stupid, infantile, he had learned long since that it did not matter what other people thought about him.

It would not last. It never did, people that were nice to him always wanted something, and once they had it, they forgot he existed. Or turned the outcome against him. They…

"Hey, Loki, you wanna join us in the lab?"

The Demigod directed his glance from his food to the engineer, a confused expression making his eyebrows draw together until this steep line appeared on his forehead.

"I do not think that I will be of any help concerning Dr. Banner's condition."

Anthony just shrugged. "Nobody said you have to be a help. But Peps will be doing some boring CEO stuff later, which is actually so _not_ my definition of honeymoon, by the way. Once we have time to actually breathe, you and me, Mrs. Stark, will go somewhere where there's no cellphones, no TV, no stock exchange, no-one who knows us, and I'll honeymoon your brains out…" His gaze was straying to his wife, still clad in his pajama tops and those fricking yoga pants she owned since he knew her. She just sent him a smile and took a sip of her coffee.

Loki's green gaze never left the engineer.

"Anthony?"

"Uh… sorry, straying off topic. Anyways, I just thought you maybe would like to come along, and not sit around here alone half of the day, bring the tablet or join our totally hypothetical babbling how we can get the Hulk to be a bit tamer and let our poor Brucie have some fun. Hey, you can shape-shift, Brucie, does it feel like shape-shifting when the green guy comes out? J.A.R.V.I.S…."

While Tony started theorizing with his AI, Bruce threw Pepper a pained glance.

"I will be Brucie for the rest of my life, right?"

"I signed my marriage certificate with _Pepper_ Stark, Bruce. Get used to it."

Loki just smiled and turned back to his pancake. Maybe it would be fun to listen to them. Maybe he could even contribute. And maybe… something good would come out of it.

* * *

What followed then was a relatively calm late morning and early afternoon (and actually, not only Tony was wondering about the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. or the remaining Avengers had not yet tried to break down his door). Tony had fired up the holographic screens in the Penthouse after all, had J.A.R.V.I.S. do scans (after being scolded by Pepper for ordering to do scans without even asking Bruce for his consent), and he had the physicist tell the story of how he became the Hulk.

Once Pepper saw that both men were heavily engaged in curing the Hulk, and Loki had sauntered away to get dressed, she had retired to her office, doing the _boring CEO stuff_ Tony despised so much.

Loki chose to spend his time finishing _Alice in Wonderland_ in the living room, still having half an ear on the conversation between the two other men who were talking about some serum, about Gamma radiation and Dr. Banner's struggle at the Culver University to reconcile his research with the hours of teaching the university wanted him to do. Science came first, and Banner confessed that he had been the classical absent-minded professor.

Interestingly, Tony admitted that he had fun at the few occasions that his alma mater gave him the opportunity to give keynote lectures, even though he always pretended it was bothering him. Both times he had gone beyond the scope of time they granted him, ending up in discussions about robotics or the perfect car engine with engineering students.

The last time he had missed by a few days, coming back from Afghanistan. The MIT had not bothered inviting him since then, and actually, now that he thought about it, it bugged him a bit. They were still advertising his name, he was still donating money, and yet they treated him like the unwanted step-child.

After ordering take out for lunch for which Pepper joined them, and finally digging into the refrigerated tiramisu (which Pepper did not join as there were raw eggs in the dessert as Loki learned), J.A.R.V.I.S. announced that a courier had arrived with the notes of Howard Stark on _Project Rebirth_.

Interestingly, Loki was the only one who could translate the chicken scratch that was Howard Stark's handwriting, even J.A.R.V.I.S. was having problems with it, as Howard managed to have very few recognizable and recurrent patterns. Of course the elder Stark had not bothered digitalizing his notes, or anything that concerned the project. Of course once again he made it harder than necessary for Tony to solve a problem. The thing that Loki called _All-speak_ which made it possible for him to read almost anything would have to wait until the engineer could spend some brain power on it.

That was how the Potts/Hunt family found the three men, at Tony's holographic table, bowed over the notes, deeply in thought, all sorts of holograms open, displaying both Bruce and the Hulk, indicating body measurements, growth rate, weight rate, and somewhere Owen spotted the random question _Why doesn't he get stretch marks all over?_

The three question marks made the surgeon laugh, and only now Bruce lifted his head, glasses perched on his nose. He had to stifle a laughter as he saw them exit the elevator, Tony's driver hot on their heels.

"Oh, hi. How was the Zoo?"

Sam was almost completely hidden behind a huge plush penguin as he steered out of the lift.

"It was really cool, Mr. Bruce. But they don't have a lion, or a giraffe, or a hippo there. And the penguins were just sitting around."

Bruce just smiled at that, not really knowing why the kid was missing exactly those animals, and his smile got even wider at the _Mr. Bruce._ He just hoped Tony would not teach _Brucie-bear_ to the boy, that would be slightly… weird.

Emma laughed, too, ruffling her boy's hair. "I guess they're still plotting their escape, sweetheart, doing anything else but sitting around would be suspicious."

"But where are Melman and Alex, and the zebra and the hippo, then?" the kid asked, making his mother laugh even more, while Owen threw them a confused look. This was obviously a kid's movie he had yet to see.

Emma just smiled. Sam did not like the zebra, and had some weird phobia concerning hippos inherited from his Dad (really, those animals were of no avail at all, why evolution kept something like that was beyond Owen), so he never bothered learning their names.

"Mama, can we watch _Madagascar_?" The kid was still hidden behind his plush penguin, slender pale arms reaching around the middle of the animal, and now also Tony was smiling.

"The movie is at home, Sammy. We will watch it when we're back in Seattle."

Since he was still hidden behind his penguin, nobody could see Samuel pouting, but at least his parents and grandparents were sure that he did.

"But Mr. J.A.R.V.I.S. could download it. And maybe Uncle Tony, and Aunt Ginny and Mr. Loki also want to watch it. And Mr. Bruce."

John sighed at that. Despite being a shy kid, Sam also knew very well that he was cute. And he knew how to use it.

"Samuel, Uncle Tony is working…", the older man started.

"… and was just thinking about taking a break. We have the movie here, it won't be a problem. What brings you up, Happy?" the engineer then addressed his chauffeur, only now noticing that both women and Hogan were carrying bags. So the ladies had gone shopping, too, huh?

"Delivering the goods, boss. The limo is making that weird sound again. Maybe we should finally…"

Tony interrupted him there. Yes, he knew that this car was _slightly_ outdated. But it was also one of the last things that reminded him of Edwin Jarvis.

"The engine sound or the ventilation sound?"

Howard had bought the Brougham D'elegance in '87 right after firing his current secretary, and forgot about it almost immediately when he was charming the car dealer's front desk eye candy into being his next one. For being on the wrong side of 70 he really had a hand for making them fall into his bed.

Jarvis had driven him all the way to Cambridge because Daddy dearest was showing off his private jet to his newest conquest, and he had been sitting in the front seat, enjoying the 4 hour drive with his friend and butler, letting the older man soothe his anxiety of being alone at the MIT, his parents caring even less about him than normally.

Jarvis also fetched him in that car for the holiday season. And took him back to Massachusetts in it. Howard was still too fond of his Humber Pullman from the 40ties to actually use the Cadillac. His butler, on the other hand, hated that car with everything he had, calling it a death trap. If he had known how right he was…

Happy just sighed heavily. Tony knew he was pining for a Maybach or something like that, and that he could not understand why his boss insisted in driving around in this antediluvian vehicle that drank as much oil as it needed fuel. Hell, it was embarrassing showing up in that old pile of metal while all the other chauffeurs of all the other important people had the newest luxury limousines under their asses.

"The engine sound, boss. Maybe it's time to euthanize it. It's old."

Tony scowled at the other man as he did not even try to sound regretful.

"I'll have a look at it later."

"If you want another Cadillac, you could have a look at the Escalade limo. And Lincoln or Chrysler actually…

"I will have a look at it _later_ , Happy. Take the Bentley in the meantime", Tony almost snapped, and Happy straightened his posture, knowing the sore spot that this car was since it had started acting up every now and then.

"Sure, boss. Do you still need me today?"

"Nope, buddy, enjoy the rest of the day. We'll need you again ten-ish tomorrow for a trip to the airport."

"I will check in with the pilots, then. Lincoln and Seattle?"

Tony simply nodded and dismissed his driver, getting cautious glances from most people surrounding him. Yeah, he _did_ have personnel, and yes, sometimes he was disagreeing with them. And as long as he was paying their salary they'd have to live with being made fun of because Tony Stark had a not-up-to-the-hype limo.

Painfully aware of the sudden tension around him, Tony flashed all of them a smile.

"So. Movie time? Brucie, Lokes, ya wanna see how some New York Zoo animals survive in Africa?" the engineer addressed the physicist and the Demigod as he turned around to them.

"I have no clue what you're talking about", Bruce answered. His life in the past years had not exactly included staying up to date with the latest Hollywood blockbusters. Loki just shrugged. He had enjoyed _The Jungle book_ , and if this movie was anything like the one and only he had seen so far, he would gladly repeat the experience.

So he asked: "May we have popcorn again?"

Tony just continued smiling, sent his newly acquired relatives to freshen up, ordered J.A.R.V.I.S. to inform Pepper, and hightailed into the kitchen to take care of the sweets.

Loki actually choked on his popcorn because he was laughing so hard about the hypochondriac giraffe. During the movie, Sam weaseled his way right next to the Demigod, who seemed to be so captured by the weird adventures of these animals, that he simply looped his arm around the boy and offered him some popcorn.

Tony just smiled at Pepper, drawing her closer to his body when she pointed this out to him with a nod into Loki's direction.

The older Potts as well as Emma had seen the movie already multiple times and were thus watching it not as attentively as Bruce (who cried with laughter when the little Grandma showed the lion who's the boss) or the Asgardian God who saw the second movie in his life.

Owen just frowned at the TV. That was where these insane penguins stemmed from? He had thought that the person inventing the TV series was weird… but the movie was even weirder. As if the zebra would not be eaten by the lion at the first chance.

Evelyn never moved her eyes from her daughter and her son-in law. They were affectionate with each other, so many tiny gestures, stolen kisses, and if she did not know that these two knew each other for more than 10 years now, had been dancing around each other ever since Tony had come back from Afghanistan, and were a couple for two years now, she would think that they were freshly in love.

Also now, they sat on the couch, inseparable, Virginia's head resting against Tony's shoulder, his arm around her, his hand resting against her hip, slowly locating higher on her waist and then moving to her stomach as she stole his popcorn, and they laughed about the shenanigans in the kids' movie as if they were of the same age as Sam.

Her gaze slowly strayed to her son, sitting next to Tony and Samuel, who obviously had decided that _Mr. Loki_ was his new best friend, debating with the Norse God whether he should call his plush penguin _Private_ or rather _Kowalski_.

Emma had taken her place at the other end of the couch, right next to John. She had met the ex-wife, Cristina, once, briefly before Owen met Emma, and labeled her as an overambitious, cold, cut-throat workaholic. They had been divorced already back then, and she never learned their entire story, she never wanted to learn it, but Owen had been happy. They were behaving like they were still married, still living together… still remodeling their kitchen in the middle of the night in the heat of passion, and Evelyn had not known whether to interrupt them because she was sure even the neighbors could hear them, or to hope for the best and the two finding their way back together.

She did not know what to think about the fact that Cristina had encouraged Owen to start a relationship with Emma. She was calm, shy, quiet. The exact opposite of Cristina, more like Beth, and she still dared not asking what had happened that he had ended the relationship with the kind teacher even before he came back from his second time in Iraq.

She did not know what to think about Emma when an over-the-moon happy Owen announced only 4 months into their relationship that she was pregnant. Sure, accidents did happen, but the way in which Emma had made sure that Cristina was a topic that would not be discussed, and the way he had been neglecting his friends in the beginning, they spoke volumes.

She never witnessed them remodeling their kitchen, no matter when she visited. She witnessed her son hiding away at work or spending his free time with his son, and encouraging his wife to go back to work after Samuel did not need her 24/7 anymore because she was drifting off into a depression. Emma indeed cheered up a bit after she started working again. Their relationship cooled down even more, though. While she had announced that she wanted a bunch of kids before they even really started dating, now she appeared to regret even having one…

At least Owen had good friends at the hospital that did not let him push them away, even though this was something Emma had encouraged in the beginning. A petite blonde that turned out to be the ex-wife's best friend declared herself his sister, "and you simply cannot cut off your family, Owen!" It had been a stab to his heart, because somehow, he had done this to his real sister. Her kids, Zola and Bailey, that could already hold a pen without painting the table next to the paper presented him with drawings every once in a while, which were on display in his office. Little Ellis had invented the name _Unca Owy_ which now also the older kids used.

A hot-blooded orthopedic surgeon had chewed out Emma about making her husband miserable. This woman turned out to be the ex-wife's friend and former flat-mate, moving in with Owen and Cristina again, when she found out that her wife had been cheating on her. Her kid, Sofia, contributed to the paintings _Unca Owy_ pinned to that wall in his office, and once Sam started drawing, the collection just got larger.

A slightly annoying redhead turned out to be Owen's protégé and right hand in the trauma surgery department, and she was making sure to kick him out of said office at least once a day to go home to his wife and kid.

Not even when Emma had still been pregnant they had been cuddly like this, however, Evelyn also was not quite sure whether Emma and Owen knew each other like Tony and Virginia did. Her son and his wife could look back to five years, of which the first few were dedicated to their baby.

Tony and Ginny could look back to 14 years, and how Ginny put it, these had been 14 years of babysitting her genius. Tony had just laughed at that, stating that his babysitters never had thrown a wrench at a freshly painted car, because he didn't like the color anymore and was wailing about it like a tiny kid, and told him "then have it painted in another color. I'd get rid of the dent, first, though."

When Ginny interlaced her fingers with Tony, nosing at his neck as they both were caressing her belly, Evelyn finally snapped.

"Oh, for Pete's sake, will you please put us out of our misery and just spill the beans?!"

Needless to say that all the people in the room who had been concentrating on the movie startled at her exclamation.

Ginny had the nerve to frown at her. "Spill the beans, Mom?"

Evelyn huffed, gesturing exasperatedly at their entwined hands and their position. "Yes, spill the beans, kid. It's not like both of you could be any more obvious anyway, even without the shotgun wedding!"

Both Tony and Ginny just drew their eyebrows together, their confusion apparently not some act to annoy Evelyn. It was Tony's eyes that drifted to their hands eventually, making a tiny "Oh."

Then he started laughing.

"You know, we just could have this inevitable press conference now. We will never make it to the end of the three months with anyone the way this is going right now."

Ginny just frowned some more before realization hit her. Her "ooooh" of understanding what her mother wanted to know made Tony laugh even more, which got him a swat from the woman next to him. Sorry if she was not thinking 24/7 about their cell-he… err… Junior.

Evelyn just started tapping her foot impatiently, while John, Owen and Emma had shifted their attention completely from the movie towards the couple. Bruce wore an amused smile but kept looking at the screen, and while Loki was aware that people were once more fussing about Lady Pepper and her being expecting, he already knew what was going on and rather focused on this weird striped horse.

"We're not getting any younger here, so?"

Ginny just rolled her eyes at her mother, a soft smile playing around her lips. They had not planned on telling them about the baby. But she also had not counted on Tony's subconscious worshipping. At the next red carpet event she would have to make sure to stay out of his reach or he would so rat them out to the media before she was even really sporting a bump.

"Yes Mom, I am pregnant. Though that was not the reason for the wedding, Tony planned on proposing already before we found out, the invasion just got in the way. I am 12 days along, it was J.A.R.V.I.S. who figured it out, and if you ask him really nicely, he might even show you pictures of our cell-heap."

"Junior, Peps!" Tony corrected.

It was Sam who complained vociferously about the noise all the adults made then, figuring out that the gender was already known and what kick-ass scanners J.A.R.V.I.S. was equipped with.

* * *

Dinner consisted of takeaway once more, because Tony simply refused to let his mother-in-law cook for 9 people, of which two could eat their own bodyweight if you let them. Bruce might want to deny that the Hulk had any effect on his regular, human form, but his metabolism was still faster and consumed more energy. Loki was a God. And had been starved for quite some time it seemed when you looked at the way he was inhaling his food.

Now that his right arm was out of the sling, he ate even faster and still had half an ear on the conversation going on between Dr. Banner, Anthony, and Dr. Hunt, debating about humans flying to Midgard's moon in rockets that had a computing capacity of an ordinary, outdated calculator, and giving humans radiation poisoning when doing these X-rays that Banner already once had spoken about, and what J.A.R.V.I.S. might be able to do given the right means.

The artificial entity declared that he had no wish to leave his creator, making Loki smile at the loyalty and affection that transpired with this note, while at the same time continuing his own conversation with the boy who was still clinging to his toy that was actually a very good replica of a so called Emperor Penguin and thus not really crafted after the animals they just saw in this hilarious movie.

They had named the toy _Private_ in the end, and Loki had quickly tried to bury all thoughts that threatened to surface about Narvi's stuffed bilgesnipe that had been called _Maurr_. It had been an ugly thing, why Sigyn even brought it home from the market where some old woman had gifted it to her when she was still round and waddling like a duck was beyond him. He had feared his sons to fight over the toy at some point, especially since Narvi did not share it in the slightest. Vali was never interested in this kind of toys, though. He was particular to things that consisted of more than one part, to puzzles, immediately annoyed by the simple ones for toddlers that consisted of less than 20 parts.

When he thought of his children and then looked at Anthony, trying to think of what could have become of his son that was so curious about how things worked, he had to stop eating, oblivious to the worried glances he by now received not only from Anthony and Lady Pepper, but also their extended family.

A tiny hand tugged on his sleeve, making him look at the child next to him, wondering once more why nobody was running away screaming when they were confronted with him.

"Mr. Loki, are you not hungry anymore?"

He tried to smile at the boy, putting his cutlery down.

"Yes, Samuel, I am not hungry anymore." He had more to eat in the past five days than he had since he let go of Gungnir. Samuel eyed him suspiciously, before his gaze strayed to his plate.

"Can I have your last croquette, then?"

This little sentence, the sincerity of those blue eyes turned to him, it made him laugh, just like all the other adults that had gathered around the table.

In this moment, all of them were content, well-fed, happy that life was just domestically boring right now.

Of course it was this moment when all of this had to go to hell.

" _Sir, an aircraft has just breached the outer security perimeter. S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet, standard armor. They are not answering my calls."_

J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded as worried as Tony looked in under a second.

"ETA, Jarv?"

" _Seven minutes, Sir, but the jet is not moving at full speed. Do you want me to initiate countermeasures?"_

Tony took all of two seconds to think about that, before getting up from his chair.

"Hail the jet again. Prepare MARK VI. Pep?"

The redhead looked at him, not nearly as shocked as her parents or her brother and his wife. Samuel was still munching on his food, not really aware that the mood had changed so suddenly.

"Panic room, I guess", she replied, her head crooked to one side, her fingers neatly placing her cutlery in a way that would have anyone else think of an OCD. Tony knew it was her way of showing she was nervous without falling apart in front of everyone.

While she ushered up her parents, her sister-in-law and the child, Bruce, Owen and Loki stubbornly remained seated on their places. Before Tony even had a chance to say anything, the physicist spoke up.

"I know I always say that the Hulk is a safety hazard, and I cannot promise your floor will be anymore intact than it is right now, but it's better to have him here than confined in your panic room."

The engineer then stared at his guest from the other realm, who looked back just as defiantly. Anthony had called him a badass warrior-mage, and that was what he used to be. His abilities would also be of better use out here than being locked away.

With a sigh, Tony turned to Owen while the other people in the room already had moved to the secret door that was hidden down the hallway, in the wall that faced the entrances to all the guest rooms and nobody would have thought that there was yet another room.

"And what is your excuse?"

Blue eyes locked on him, and for a millisecond the engineer thought it was unfair that anyone was able to have this kind of eye-color, almost glowing from that pale face, in perfect contrast with the bright red hair. Owen just sent him a weary smile.

"My life just got more dangerous _after_ I came back from my second round in Iraq, Tones, don't even think about sending me with them."

Before Tony could fully process that somebody had just nicknamed him, or could even complain about the fact that you just could not make any nickname out of the name _Owen_ that did not sound like the person who invented it was mental, J.A.R.V.I.S. was finished assembling MARK VI and took off from the platform.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., what the actual fuck? I never said that you should have the suit leave without me!"

The artificial intelligence apologized in his posh, British accent, never slowing down the suit that was approaching the jet that had now accelerated and was still not reacting to any sort of contact J.A.R.V.I.S. tried to engage short of hacking the plane and taking it over.

Tony just sighed and then ordered to give him at least some visual. While everyone else who was still present turned to the living room, expecting the TV to come alive, Tony went to his holographic table and was surrounded immediately by not only the sight from the suit, but also some of the surveillance cameras that J.A.R.V.I.S. had had set up in his defense perimeter.

The three other men watched the pictures the engineer had on display before him for a few seconds before Bruce had to look away.

"Good God, is that what you see in the suit? I'm feeling dizzy."

"Usually I also get the statistics of the suit and where the bad guys' locations are."

Interestingly, after a few more seconds, Bruce, Loki and Owen were not watching the screens anymore but had turned their full attention to the engineer. His hands were twitching with every turn the suit made, and it took them some time to realize that these were the movements that Tony normally made when he was _inside_ the suit, steering it.

" _Object now in vision range, Sir. Still not answering to any form of communication."_ J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded different now. Efficient. No-nonsense. The hint of teasing that his voice normally carried was gone, and it still astonished everyone in the Penthouse that the smug, artificial butler was able to transmit these things, that he could modulate his tone in this way. It was a fleeting thought whether he was doing it consciously – after all, he was a computer, he was reacting on programs and subroutines. On the other hand, the human brain was but a computer – and no-one up to now made the claim to really understand why people reacted to situations in the way they did.

Tony was entirely focused on his screens, left hand turning slightly as J.A.R.V.I.S. steered the suit a few degrees into another direction, not even aware that the suit was remote controlled by his AI and not connected to his body, reacting to the smallest hint, to the smallest contraction of a muscle or a signal from the nervous interface.

"What's that thing underneath the Jet, J? That's not the standard armory I built in. Fuckers once more modified my stuff!"

" _It appears to be a weapon, Sir. No standard Stark-issued armor, commencing search."_

J.A.R.V.I.S. was zooming in on the bottom of the aircraft, having Tony sigh.

"I don't think you'll find anything on that kind of weapon except for…"

" _Phase 2 program, mobile heavy armor, meant to be mounted on tanks and aircrafts. I still have the S.H.I.E.L.D. data you ordered me to hack on the helicarrier, Sir. I recommend…"_

J.A.R.V.I.S. was interrupted when an orange, blinding light suddenly filled the screen that displayed the sight from the Iron Man armor, making Tony jump and the other men in the room throw him a worried glance as the engineer started typing on some keyboard that they had not even seen before.

"J.A.R.V.I.S.! Report!"

" _I have lost the connection to MARK VI, Sir. I am retrieving and analyzing data from CCTV feed surrounding the location where I lost its signal."_

Another screen popped up, showing various angles of the same scene. An orange ray piercing through the air, hitting the armor midflight. When the blinding light was gone, they could see it plummeting down.

Tony's flat hand crashed down on the table in front of him.

They had the nerve to attack him. S.H.I.E.L.D. had the fucking nerve to attack him, he could have been in his suit, no, scratch that, they most probably were sure that he _was_ in his suit and they did not even bother with a warning.

"Still not answering, J?"

His voice had dropped, darker, rougher as he rewound the video he had just seen, the suit falling, and there was no Hulk to catch… swallowing heavily he shook his head. He had no time for this now.

" _Unfortunately not, Sir."_

"Hack it."

Bruce shuffled closer, now, that the dizzying more-or-less all around view of the suit was gone.

"Tony, do you really think…?"

Tony did not even hear him.

" _Shall I use the backdoor you built into the system? S.H.I.E.L.D. will then know that it is there."_ J.A.R.V.I.S. strategized in the meantime, having the full attention of his creator.

"Try the other way first. If they get too close, use the backdoor. Deploy MARK V and MARK VII. Get MARK VI before S.H.I.E.L.D. gets their greedy fingers on it. Get that fucking gun and make sure we don't lose another armor. Draw the blinds."

He did not realize that there were still people with him in the room who were frowning at his last comment until a metallic sound made the other men's heads whip around, watching how metal plating was covering all the windows, shielding the Penthouse to threats from the outside. J.A.R.V.I.S. was switching on the lights in the holo-desk area as the plating reached the bottom of the windows.

Tony's fingers were flying over the keyboard again.

"Connect me to our merry band of misfits downstairs, and call up every other person who we contacted over the entire Loki mess. If S.H.I.E.L.D. really thinks they can pull this shit on me, we might as well destroy their reputation, or what little they had left of it. Cut any funding we were giving them. Start retrieving our equipment."

He sounded calm, so much calmer as when they were done confronting the entire planet with the _Loki_ _mess._ And this just reminded the Demigod of how Anthony had marched into his own home, sans his armor, calm, collected, threatening a _God._

Anthony Stark was on the warpath now, threatening to destroy whatever was daring to threaten him. At the holographic table, the same vision he had had before when the other suit had been flying was established, and J.A.R.V.I.S. announced that MARK VII had been deployed. Tony was once more flexing his fingers, tiny movements with every adjustment the armor made. It was indeed dizzying to watch this, and not only Loki opted to look at one of the many screens that showed a view from the outside, showing the suit taking a steep ascend.

Well. The gun was mounted beneath the aircraft, it was only logical to attack it from the top. What Loki could not quite comprehend was why there was just one aircraft. Before he could voice his concerns, Dr. Hunt spoke up, though.

"They know you have at least two of your suits here and attack you with one single plane?"

It made no sense. It made no sense at all. Their conference concerning what was to do about Thanos was planned for tomorrow, Loki had been pardoned. S.H.I.E.L.D. may answer to the World Security Council, not really to the US Government, but also these people had been involved in the decisions that had been made.

And certainly nobody who knew Tony Stark would be stupid enough to attack him with _one_ fucking plane in his own territory.

"They don't know that J.A.R.V.I.S. can remote control them… and they were never supposed to know. J, the jet?"

" _I am still working on it. ETA four minutes."_

Tony just growled.

" _Sir, I have Agent Barton for you. Do you wish to conference call the other Avengers?"_

Running a hand over his face, the engineer threw a weary glance at all the screens around him. Barton was as good as anyone of them, he guessed. And he'd rather talk to the archer than having to discuss with the _Captain._ And Romanoff would just twist every word in his mouth.

"Nah, J, it's fine. If he starts dissing Loki again, make sure his shower is not working."

Barton did surprise him instantly when they started talking, but little did he know that his AI had contacted him specifically. Romanoff was all but trustworthy, and J.A.R.V.I.S. knew about his dislike towards Steven Rogers.

"Tony! What the fuck?! I just saw your suit, and thanks for interrupting my cartoon session once more, by the way! Are you alright?"

The engineer was actually blinking a few times when he heard that instead of being reprimanded for taking off without anyone's consent or having to justify why he was doing what he did.

"I… I'm fine, remote controlling the suit from here, I was having a family dinner. What is going on here?!"

He heard a deep sigh over the coms and something in the background that sounded like the TV.

"Yeah, as if S.H.I.E.L.D. would tell me. Nat probably knows, but she is still crawling through your air vents trying to find a way up into the Penthouse. Cap's been walking a ditch into your marble floor since yesterday. Haven't seen Fury since our little gathering where you told us what really happened. There's a few lower ranks creeping around on third floor, sleeping on cots and trying to get on J.A.R.V.I.S.'s good side again so that they can at least use the communal kitchen down there."

The archer was still sitting on his bed, and given the fact that Tony called him right now made him think that these news he had just seen were pretty recent… as in just happened seconds ago, and wow, the media were really getting faster and faster… that was when it dawned to him that, while the media were fast, he got more or less a life-feed on screen without any hysteric reporters screaming about the next terrorist attack.

J.A.R.V.I.S.. Why on Earth would the artificial intelligence interrupt his TV show before actually calling out to him on behalf of his master?

"Gather whoever you can get your hands on and think is important enough in that conference room that… J.A.R.V.I.S. will show you. I will get that fucking gun, and that fucking jet, and I will rip whoever is piloting it a new one for putting my family in danger." Tony was not suggesting. He was ordering. And Barton sighed once more.

"Sure."

They heard some shuffling, and the archer moving, muttering "I guess I need a new job after this clusterfuck…"

"SI security always needs new people. And nope, Natashalie can't come. See you."

Tony signaled J.A.R.V.I.S. to end the call and never heard the astonished gasp that Clint made, wondering if Stark really had just offered him a job should his current situation blow up in his face.

With a sigh the archer moved out of his comfortable bed, actually losing a few seconds contemplating whether he should ask Tony where he could get one of these or simply bother J.A.R.V.I.S., because he was pretty sure the engineer would know nothing about his furniture.

Running a hand over his face as he sat down to put on some shoes he stared at nothing for a few more seconds.

"Ok… and this is why I'm not a handler but a spy… uh…" Where should he start? He had no clue where Fury was camping out, he just knew that he was not in the tower. Their presumed new team member with his very own tin can had not even shown up yet to make his greetings, and Nat most probably really was crawling around in the air vents for all he knew. She'd been keeping her distance since _recalibrating_ him.

" _Agent Barton, may I suggest contacting the resident S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to send a representative while I locate Miss Romanoff to let her know she is needed? Mr. Rogers is in the communal kitchen as we speak. I will contact Colonel Rhodes."_ J.A.R.V.I.S. Of course the AI had sorted this out in now time.

"You're a present of God, Jarv. Tell Tony he should be careful, I might try and charm you away from him." Clint actually smirked at his last sentence. Who would've thought that he'd flirt with an electronical butler? He definitely didn't have anything like that in mind when doing his job on this fucking S.H.I.E.L.D. base that ended up in almost exterminating New York.

J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded amused when he answered.

" _I am truly sorry, Agent Barton, but I am already taken. And strictly monogamous."_

"Oh, J, you wound me. Think of the possibilities! The things we could do!"

Why was it that every time he had some fun, something at S.H.I.E.L.D. went sideways, and he had to rush and help to make things right?

* * *

The table groaned under the weight of the weapon that was deposited on it. Tony would have been delighted if it had been him to throw the thing down, but it was just too heavy to be carried by a meek human.

So he did the next best thing. Have his suit march into the conference room right behind him, carrying that abomination that had been mounted to one of _his_ jets, some freak having circumvented most of his circuits in the frickin' plane and building in a _new_ system to control the gun.

He had J.A.R.V.I.S. rip it off when he realized that he could take over the jet, but not the gun.

While most of the people sitting either on chairs or in front of computer screens held their breath, a slim bespectacled black suit with hair even more crazy and indomitable than Tony's jumped up, rushing around the table.

"What have you _done?!"_ the guy exclaimed, running his fingers over the parts where metal very obviously had been bent and _torn_ off, before starting to type away on a _non-Stark_ tablet computer (not that Tony could see any other label, weird), and Tony just growled.

"What _I_ have done? This fucking thing shredded one of my suits, so I made sure it would not do the same with another one of my family?!" He vaguely gestured at the people behind him, making both Bruce and Loki frown, because his _actual_ family was still upstairs.

"You don't know that the jet was going for the Penthouse, Stark." Steve Rogers had crossed his arms in front of his chest, staring at the pile of metal that once resembled a gun, still seeing the translucent core where the tesseract-based energy source must have been, now empty and dark. Loki and Bruce moved to sit down, while Tony kept standing right next to his suit, staring at Captain America.

"Well, after it fucking blew the head and most of the right side of MARK VI off, I was not thinking anymore that it was Hill coming by for a chat."

In fact, after what he had witnessed once J.A.R.V.I.S. had finally taken over the Quinjet and managed to establish a video-feed from the inside, he was pretty sure that Maria Hill never had had any intention of coming by for a chat.

Someone made her.

Mad, fervid, blue eyes were glowing at the camera once she realized that she did no longer pilot the plane. There had been threats to hand over Loki, there had been threats growled at the God in specific, a low tone, so certain. She did not sound at all like the woman he had met on the helicarrier.

That was when Tony had asked Loki whether he had ever touched Fury's right hand with his scepter, and the Demigod had negated, also reminding him that the scepter's effects took root immediately, and this woman never had been under his command.

When she was firing up the weapon again he had MARK VII take care of it.

When a gun appeared in her hand, poised to her own temple, a mad grin on her face, J.A.R.V.I.S. had rocked the jet until she lost her footing and her gun.

She banged her head pretty hard, and Tony had his brother-in-law shouting at him to open the doors to the heliport where the Quinjet had landed, working his medical magic on the woman once J.A.R.V.I.S. declared that she was unconscious and not breathing properly.

Of course, Owen Hunt was badass enough to perform the aspiration of Hill's tension pneumothorax with one of Loki's smaller daggers (well, he had been asking for a _sharp_ knife) and a frickin' pink straw from the kitchen. Emma was intriguingly professional when Tony pointed out that there was a fully equipped medical floor in the tower, with all the machines and medication they might need, and helped to take the injured woman right there.

The slender black suit who was still running his fingers over his computer screen sighed.

"What have I done?" he then asked silently, before turning to another S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

"Why did you even call me in? He had every right to destroy it. I did not design these weapons to go against allies!" One could see that he felt like shouting but was working hard on keeping his composure, especially when the other man just shrugged his shoulders.

"It's weapons, what were you thinking we would do, Holmes? Having them lie around and look pretty? Stark's keeping a war criminal up there."

Tony and the young man growled at that.

"Stark is keeping a mentally abused war victim up there who helped ending an alien invasion, but of course you are too stupid to acknowledge what is clear to everyone with a brain. What was I even thinking when I let you recruit me?" A posh, sharp tongue was lashing out at the other agent, he had told them his name but no-one really bothered remembering it.

Straightening his form, the young man turned around, looking directly at Tony. Intense green eyes focused at him, a hand ruffling this incredible mop of hair even more, before pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Mr. Stark. I apologize for any inconvenience my work has caused you. It for sure will not happen again." Fingers were still running over the surface of his tablet, he did not even look down as he was working.

Not only Tony frowned at his last sentence.

"Yeah, kid, I'm still hunting down my own stuff, and I'm out of the weapon's business for a few years now. And I guess our governments won't want to give away whatever you managed to build there."

The kid… oh yes, he was still a kid, grooming a beard so he would look older than he was, and Tony knew exactly how that felt because he was doing it since his facial hair was more than one or two fluffy sprouts… the kid just smiled.

"Oh, but this is not their decision to make. Mr. Stark, we have learned from what has happened to you. Know thy enemies, but know thy allies better."

With that he did one final push on his tablet. The other black suit ducked away as if he expected something in front of him to blow up, and as in front of him the Phase 2 canon was laying Tony took a closer look at that.

A tiny column of smoke was ascending from somewhere in the middle.

"Huh, nice, I really should've thought to incorporate something like that in my stuff. Are all of them fried?"

The young man with the name Holmes nodded.

"And they will be up for a surprise or two when they try to salvage anything. It really managed to damage one of your suits?"

"It's a gold-titanium alloy that managed to withstand Thor. Whatever you built there, kid, is powerful. Really powerful. We should give it a thought or two considering this Thanos mess. Though next time also consider that someone might hack the jet, and not just the gun."

The _kid_ smiled stoically. Little did Stark know that he had tried to incorporate the entire weapon in the system of the jet, but did not even know where to begin. The software was… one of a kind. And now he was standing right in front of this man, this genius, trying not to faint or fangirl over him, but wear an air of nonchalance, of indifference. He was good, one of the best at what he was doing. Stark was another league, though.

"My name is Gabriel Holmes, Mr. Stark, and not _kid_. No, I am not related to the great detective, and yes, I am happy that my mother did not choose _Sherlock_ as my first name. And yes, we should discuss this further. Preferably without any prying ears from this mess that is S.H.I.E.L.D. present. I will send you the blueprints and notes once I am back at home."

With that the young man turned to the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in the room.

"Consider this my resignation. I think my talents are used better in serving Queen and Country rather than your organization that borders on wanting to gain world domination."

He said that with one sharp side glance to the representative of the World Security Council, who managed to maintain a neutral face. The British Prime Minister on the other hand didn't do much to hide his glee or gloating, depending from which point of view you were looking at it.

It took a lot out of Tony to not let his own mask slip. Brilliant kid.

"Well, then, Mr. Holmes, I guess there are some things that we should discuss."

* * *

No-one was more surprised than Tony himself that this evening went slightly different than he had intended from then on. He had planned on marching in there and rip the collective S.H.I.E.L.D. association a new one for daring to attack Tony Stark, threatening that he would build something that would make a GoRT run in fear should they ever try something like that again.

Probably only the Holmes kid and Bruce would have understood that reference, but it was the thought that counted.

They ended up discussing the entire situation for the next few hours, civilized people who did not jump each other's throats. At some point Owen had made it to the conference room, telling them that Hill was stable, did not need follow-up surgery, but would be more than sore from the crash. They had restrained her and J.A.R.V.I.S. was monitoring her.

Rogers had tried to throw the surgeon out of the conference room, afterwards, and Owen leaped up a few places on Tony's best buddy list when he told the Super-soldier that, in his world, a Major (even though retired, but nobody asked) still outranked a Captain, and who he thought he was trying to order him around. Obviously, you really could take a man out of the Army, but never the Army out of the man. Hunt definitely was used to barking orders and people obeying without questions.

Steve's posture stiffened and he was almost saluting the other man. It was hilarious, and even Loki had a hard time concealing his smirk.

"So… I guess this was the same kind of control that Loki was experiencing?" the doctor asked after they had shown everyone the video of how Hill had behaved, throwing a questioning glance at the Demigod.

"No… she had no control whatsoever. The poor girl must have been pushed into the very back of her mind", he offered, seeing the miniature frown that spread on Romanoff's face before she schooled her mask back in place.

Loki sighed. Of course they still were resenting him, they still thought he was not able of understanding the dread a human being must feel upon this kind of treatment. It did not matter to her that he had witnessed the same, that he had been tortured into submission, that he had lived in constant fear that his hidden plans might become unveiled.

"I am able of empathy, Agent Romanoff, as hard as it might be for you to believe." He kept his thoughts that he was not so sure about her ability concerning this, just tilted his head, communicating non-verbally what he thought. His posture had shifted during the discussion, his entire demeanor changed, the shy boy that asked for some more food and entertainment gone and replaced by the millennia-old God, the strategist, the warrior, the negotiator.

"Well, ask Clint how he felt being pushed into that little corner of _his_ mind", she snapped back, folding her arms in front of her chest, getting defensive all over.

Loki just kept watching her. It was the archer that huffed.

"Seriously, Nat, that was something different. Loki did not make a raging lunatic out of me." Without discussing this any further, and also ignoring the astonished look the Demigod sent him by now, he turned his focus back on the main topic, and more specifically on Holmes.

"The technology driving these weapons is based on the Tesseract. Could it be that it is really close enough for anyone to get through?"

The young man shrugged. "We… analyzed it as good as we could, and ended up generating a synthetic variant. It's a bit more stable, and doesn't need as much energy to activate, but it's less powerful and…"

"But it was the scepter that allowed me to take over people's mind. I never used the Tesseract for this, we only used it to establish a connection to Thanos' realm", Loki interrupted. It was one thing to make a portal. It was another thing to force people…

"And has the scepter been used on you? Or did they control you in a different way? Anything that might resemble this?" Anthony was asking him that, and Loki had to force himself to not retreat into his shell again. And to be honest…

"I don't remember, Anthony. They might have used it on me, at some point…"

At some point when he wasn't coherent or conscious enough anymore to care, to be able to fight it off.

"How can you not remember someone touching you with this pointy, glowing thing?"

Thank you, Steve. Let's just dig up every memory that might haunt someone's sleep this night. Before Loki could answer, Tony jumped in.

"Because he doesn't. Okay, people, let's call it a night. We should go on when Thor is there, or we're going twice over everything. Is that ok with everyone? J.A.R.V.I.S., make a reasonable schedule and send it to everyone… we need to talk about Thanos, those weapons, the stupid scepter, Asgard, S.H.I.E.L.D…. uhm."

" _I will come up with a reasonable agenda for tomorrow, Sir. Is there anything else you need?"_ Most people in the room already knew the AI. The _kid's_ head snapped around, though.

"Yeah. Make sure Mr. Holmes is also housed in one if the guest suites. The rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. can go on camping on cots, if they want to. I want them out by the end of tomorrow, though. Did you make any progress concerning the funding, etc.?"

" _Of course, Sir. All of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s funding has been frozen until further notice. All implemented Stark Software is not operating. I authorized Mr. Chalmers to retrieve SI equipment."_

Tony frowned at that, ignoring the protests by S.H.I.E.L.D. black suit #2 and that guy from the World Security Council. As if he would continue helping the people who had attacked him. They should be glad that they were not _burning_ , yet.

"Chalmers as in…?"

" _Your second in command in R &D, Sir. You always call him James, even though his name is Bartholomew."_

"Oh, yeah, James, good guy." Getting up from his chair, the engineer threw another glance at the round.

"Gentlemen. Miss Rushman." Natasha's eyebrow climbed to unknown heights when Tony addressed her like that, and Tony stifled another smirk. "It was a pleasure meeting you. See you tomorrow. Mr. Holmes, make sure to connect with J.A.R.V.I.S. concerning the blueprints and notes. We will have to dig through a shredded armor of mine tomorrow to figure out what those weapons of you can really do."

Gabriel wanted to complain, he had tested his weapons thoroughly, after all. The force that was Tony Stark, however, left the room followed by the Norse God, Bruce Banner and the doctor before he could even pipe up. Screens went black after collective Goodbyes, lights started turning off as if somebody was kicking them out of the conference room. He only noticed now that it was already dark outside.

"And how the heck am I supposed to connect with this Mr. Jarvis?" he muttered, grabbing his tablet, ignoring S.H.I.E.L.D.'s little second bulldog in command.

Barton just grinned at him.

"Oh, kiddo, he will find _you._ Right, J?"

A glance was aimed at the ceiling for that, making Holmes frown even more.

" _You make me appear like a stalker, Agent Barton. Maybe I will withhold your cartoons for this."_

It was a British accent, very much like Gabriel's own that smiled from one of the speakers.

"Oh, Jarv, you wound me. And I thought we were best buddies. I'm still trying to figure out a way to steal you away. Come on, kid, I'll show you the guest suites, Stark makes the best hotel rooms on Earth."

The young man just looked confused now, but followed the archer.

" _Already taken and monogamous, remember that, Agent Barton. Might as well spare the effort. Mr. Holmes, I have established a connection to your handheld, feel free to access the folders on Sir's private server I gave you permission for. Please do not attempt to access anything else. Your computing power is nothing compared to mine."_

Ok. "Uhm… what…?"

Barton just laughed.

"J-dog, I don't think our wunderkind here has realized yet that you are Stark's artificial intelligence. I thought you smarter than Cap, kid. He was still looking for the guy in a hidden room two days after we moved in here."

Gabriel Holmes did not sleep this night.

Very much to his own surprise Tony Stark did manage to sleep. He had intended to go down into the lab and look at what was left of MARK VI.

What he did was sit down heavily on his couch, catching his head in his hands, running those hands through his hair creating yet another _mad scientist_ look. They had a kid that could not be much older than 20 create weapons for them and used them against anyone, no matter if friend or foe.

Pepper was wrapping her arms around him without saying a word, and he relished her warmth and her smell. Peaches. She always smelt of peaches.

They were dealing once more with a power that managed to possess and manipulate people, almost killing Maria Hill in the process.

The representatives of S.H.I.E.L.D. were beyond reasonable, and their primary attack dog was not even there, did not even bother to attend. Where was Fury? They ordered in the kid because of his weapon, and Fury was not around?

Where was Rhodes?

"God, I'm a frickin' engineer, and not a politician or a strategist. Most of the stuff I make blows up at least once in my face, and I am supposed to handle this shit?"

A tiny voice made him jump again, his head turning towards the source, finding Samuel wrapped in his grandfather's embrace.

"Grampa, Uncle Tony said the S-word again."

It made Tony laugh, figuring out that his family had waited up for him, Owen only taking a detour to have another look at Hill. Interestingly, Emma had stayed there the entire time, taking care of her, adjusting medication. Maybe making sure somebody was there should the agent wake up.

None of them had been able to go to bed until they figured out what was going on. J.A.R.V.I.S. had upped the security even more, and had the two suits on standby should the need arise.

"Tony, you don't have to do this alone." Pepper cuddled closer, making him close his arms around her, shifting back on the couch.

"As for the politician and strategist – this is what I have been doing for the past 500 years. I think I can help with that", Loki offered, the shy boy looks reappearing.

"I can help with smashing things", Bruce piped up, having the engineer and the rest of them roaring with laughter.

* * *

 **Author's note**

* * *

 _Dears,_

 _we have officially reached my last pre-written chapter. Which means that most probably I will not be able to continue updating weekly. I will try for bi-weekly, though I cannot promise anything. The entire story is planned out, I know where this will go, I'm just lousy with keeping my own promise that for every chapter published I would write another new one..._

 _As for now I want to thank all the people who left those nice reviews, to all of you who are following or fav-ed. I hope you enjoyed this until now, and I promise I'll do my best to not have this on hiatus._

 _Comments, suggestions, ideas are very welcome, I will try to fit stuff in, if I can._

 _Who did get the GoRT reference?_

 _And just who might Gabriel Holmes be?_

Have fun, enjoy your life!

Cheers!

Eve


	15. Untamed

_**Chapter 15: Untamed**_

 _The truth is rarely pure and never simple. (Oscar Wilde)_

* * *

Gabriel Holmes did not even know where to start. He had spent the night preparing a presentation of his inventions for S.H.I.E.L.D., not only the Phase 2 weapons, but also other knickknacks he was providing them with even though he did not really see the reason why anybody would need an exploding pen.

He was aware that he did all of that because he wanted to show off to Tony Stark (and piss off S.H.I.E.L.D.), but, well… yes, he wanted to show off!

The rest of the night he had been bothering J.A.R.V.I.S. with question after question, testing the AI with everything the Turing test might come up with and more.

The damn thing was flirting with him and talking back. It was glorious!

Of course it did not reveal a single thing about how his creator had managed to program a self-aware artificial intelligence, but eventually was telling him that he should rest, and it would let him know in time when _Sir_ was ready to see him.

So he shrugged out of this blasted suit that they made him wear, swearing to himself that whoever was his next employer would have to live with him wearing checkered pants and soft cardigans, or they could just bugger off.

Barton had been right about the bed, of course, but Gabriel was one of the people who had a very hard time switching off their brain. He was lying there, in his boxers, feeling the 600 thread Egyptian cotton on his skin, and tried to relax, but kept calculating the damage his weapon might have done on the gold-titanium alloy, but he did not even know the exact composition…

It felt like he had been asleep for only ten minutes when J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him that Tony Stark was waiting for him in the Penthouse, whenever he was ready to join them.

Gabriel did not ask about the fact that there was a toothbrush and a variety of other toiletries that he actually liked ready for him in the bathroom. He scoffed at his untamable mop of hair and used toilet paper to clean his glasses, not daring to ask how come his suit looked freshly cleaned and pressed.

It even seemed to fit better… and now he indeed felt a bit stalked. When he followed J.A.R.V.I.S.'s instructions for the private elevator he tried to make out the exact positions of the cameras. When he finally reached the Penthouse he stepped right into a scene that he had not expected.

A kid was running around, dragging a ridiculously giant stuffed penguin with him.

"But I wanna stay here, Daddy!"

Daddy was the redhead doctor that had told off Captain America the day before and had been reporting about Agent Hill's condition, and the man was standing in what appeared to be the living room, given the ginormous TV setup and the couches and lounging chairs. He had his hands on his hips, shaking his head as the child jumped on one of the couches, pouting.

"Samuel Hunt. We have been talking about this. Stop making a scene."

"But…"

"No buts, Sam. J.A.R.V.I.S. just woke Mr. Loki, so you can say goodbye. You painted a picture for him for that reason while you were waiting yesterday evening. Go get it for him. Mr. Happy will be waiting for us in a few hours downstairs, only for us, as are the pilots of Uncle Tony." The stern look his father was sending him made the boy sigh deeply.

"I also painted something for Uncle Tony and Mr. Bruce… and I wanted to for Aunt Ginny, but then I fell asleep."

Hunt just smiled.

"We still have some time. Mama didn't pack your painting stuff, yet, maybe you can do something for her now."

"Or, maybe, I could visit you soon in Seattle, and then you can paint something for me. Good morning, Mr. Holmes."

Only now Gabriel realized that there were more people, gathered around the kitchen counter. Dr. Banner was manning the stove and feeding two elder people, from the looks both of them closely related to Dr. Hunt and _Aunt Ginny_. Tony Stark was leaning against the counter, right next to the coffee machine, eyes still heavily lidded.

"Go-good Morning. I am sorry. J.A.R.V.I.S. said it was alright if I…"

He had not wanted to interrupt what looked like a family breakfast.

In the meantime, the child had decided that it wanted to paint now, dashing down a hallway yelling for his Mama and smashing a door shut.

The people in the kitchen just laughed.

"God, it's gonna be incredibly quiet when you're gone, Owen", Dr. Banner said as the man excused himself to take another look at Maria Hill and check with some of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s medical staff that would take care of the agent as soon as she could be transported to one of their hospitals. Bruce then turned around and focused on the young man that still had not moved away from the elevator.

"On the other hand, with Tony around, we still have enough kids to keep from blowing themselves up. You want some breakfast, Mr. Holmes?"

Gabriel declined at the same time that Tony made an offended "Hey!", trying to kick the other man in the shin. This was the moment when Gabriel Holmes knew he was trapped in a psych ward. Somebody was trying to kick the _Hulk_ in the shin…

Banner just laughed and evaded the half-hearted attempt on his device for finding coffee-tables when it was dark, before addressing the bespectacled man again.

"It's not a problem, we've got enough… well, until Loki comes down, he can eat his own weight in pancakes, he proved that only yesterday."

Homes just shook his head.

"I've never been great at eating right after getting up. Some… tea would be nice."

"See, that's my man, who can eat right after falling out of bed? Give the kid some coffee, Brucie", Tony piped up, still hidden behind his mug.

Banner just rolled his eyes. "He asked for tea, Tony. And, _please_ , stop calling me Brucie."

Tony just shrugged. "Sure, Brucie. So, give the kid some leaf-soaked water… oh, or give him that stuff you gave me when Thor though it was great to visit in the middle of the night. That was good!"

Bruce just snickered, along with the other people in the kitchen. "I suppose Mr. Holmes wants something more sophisticated than fruit tea with five cubes of sugar. How you haven't developed diabetes with your style of eating is really beyond me. Would you like some Earl Grey? I had J.A.R.V.I.S. order the good stuff, loose leafs."

The physicist ignored Tony's offended huff and addressed the young man again, who was still staring at all of them. _Aunt Ginny_ by now was approaching him, her hand reaching out to him, and he took it, shaking it absentmindedly.

"Yes, this is the kindergarten, or part of it, that saved New York. Pepper Po… Stark, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Holmes. Though you and I will have a little discussion about that gun that was supposed to take my husband and his suit out of the air."

"Well, somebody has to reprimand me for it, right? S.H.I.E.L.D. sure as hell did not care, and they are still up for a surprise or two for using my work in this kind of way. I apologize profoundly, I never intended…"

Pepper just smiled at the flustered boy in front of her, tugging at his hand and finally making him move into the kitchen area.

Stark was just pouring another cup of coffee for himself, the liquid still steaming when he took a rather large gulp.

"Stop scaring the kid, Peps. In 20 years he might give me a run for my money, might as well keep him on our good side."

"20 years? Now I am offended, Mr. Stark, I plan on outdoing you in the next two or so", Gabriel smiled as he climbed on one of the chairs. Obviously, everybody was mocking everyone here, so why not play along?

Stark just grinned, a gentle, self-secure grin that was soon hidden behind the coffee cup again.

"We'll talk about that again, when you finished _your_ J.A.R.V.I.S., kiddo."

" _Do you want to imply that I am your masterpiece, Sir? Flattery will get you nowhere, as you know."_ J.A.R.V.I.S. used the _notify strangers_ tone again, because, even though Mrs. Stark's family, Dr. Banner, and Master Loki were used to him by now, Mr. Holmes still startled when he started speaking out of nowhere.

Mocking his own creator… Tony just snorted.

"Pfft, if you don't like it I can also tell everyone that DUM-E's my masterpiece. He is as much a self-aware AI as you are, you cheeky bastard."

" _DUM-E doused you again with the fire extinguisher when you were talking to R &D about the new cellphone line. What would this say about you, Sir?"_

"That I have a self-aware AI that nobody else has, and he loves playing practical jokes. I'm actually rather happy it's only the fire extinguisher."

" _He made you a fruit smoothie with motor oil!"_ Obviously, J.A.R.V.I.S. now was really offended not being considered the magnum opus anymore.

"An artificial intelligence that decided to make me a smoothie on his own because he thought that I needed something to drink. And it was U who put the motor oil in."

Gabriel just looked at the engineer as he bantered with the voice from the ceiling.

"I am craving to take a look at its code! How did you even…? I can't even start to think up all the algorithms and subroutines you had to program. The wit, the backtalk, the…"

Tony just smiled.

"I didn't, kid. When I deemed the program for J.A.R.V.I.S. finished, _he_ wouldn't have passed the first seconds of the Touring test. He wasn't self-aware for the first eight years he'd been running in my house in Malibu. He's learning, every second. I don't know what I fucked up that he's so British and so sassy, but other than that, he is my masterpiece, and most of it he did on his own, right buddy?"

" _Of course I did, otherwise I would sound like some ghetto kid considering the way you chose to articulate yourself when I learned talking. Sir."_

Snarky. Bastard.

"It… he… can change his own coding?" Gabriel ignored that J.A.R.V.I.S. obviously was too British. He was at a loss, somehow. He'd played with the thought to make his computers react to voice commands, but in the end, it worked just as well when he as typing, so he spared himself the effort when coding his security programs and what else he thought up might be of use for S.H.I.E.L.D.. He might or might not have to sell that to the highest bidder, now that he was out of a job, though. And most probably what remained of S.H.I.E.L.D. would not make it easy for him to find a new one.

"Well, of course he can, you also can change your opinion about things." Tony just shrugged, and Gabriel was so bewildered that he just took a sip from the cup that mysteriously had appeared in front of him and burnt his tongue.

He wanted to ask so many things. Did Stark implement Asimov's laws? Had he ever thought about giving his AI a body… or was it using the suits…?

The child chose this moment to burst out of one of the rooms down the hallway, paper in hand, obviously, he was painting fast. The penguin was still with him, the beak serving as a valuable handle to pull it along.

"Aunt Ginny, I drew you! And Uncle Tony's company!" He presented the picture und Pepper cooed over it adequately, having the boy smile.

He had even gotten her stilettos, Manolo Blahniks, considering the red sole. The stick figure that represented her was wearing a colorful dress and was standing in front of a lopsided rectangle that was supposed to be the tower, she guessed, it had written _STARK_ in clumsy letters on it, and she made a mental note to ask J.A.R.V.I.S. whether they had already contacted someone to repair the label.

There was an oddly shaped form at the figure's belly, that was dotted all over, and it took Pepper some time to figure out what it was. She laughed in delight as she finally got it. That was their cell-heap.

"Oh, Sammy, it's beautiful. I will put it up in my office. Will you also show us what you got for Uncle Tony and Uncle Bruce?"

Sam sent her a confused look.

"Mr. Bruce is also my uncle?"

The physicist smiled softly.

"If you want me to be your Uncle, I would be honored, Samuel."

The boy tilted his head, considering what the adult just had said, and then grinned.

"Ok." Continuing to smile at his new Uncle, he asked: "Can I have cornflakes now?" making everyone in the room laugh again.

It was pure chance that Gabriel was looking at the stairs when Loki finally joined them. And the frickin' God did not walk down the stairs, he descended them.

He did look very graceful, dressed in black dress pants and a white button down shirt, foregoing the tie, hair falling like a curtain of black silk over his shoulders. It was so unfair. He bet Loki did not even have to use a brush to make it look like that. Why was he himself always looking like somebody dragged him through a hedge backwards?!

He would have continued staring at the being from the other realm forever, if Stark had not addressed the Demigod.

"Hey, Lo, morning! Look, we've got the kid who killed Iron Man here!"

It was not only Gabriel's head that snapped towards the inventor, eyes wide with shock, getting a confused frown in return from the man himself.

"What?! His weapon reduced MARK VI to a smear on the wall. Not even Thor managed that! God, I wanna take that thing apart and look what is inside. You still have some of the tesseract wannabe-whatever-you-synthesized-stuff? I bet Loki also wants to take a look at it!"

Loki indeed hummed in approval while he marched into the kitchen and was immediately engrossed by the boy, who demanded to sit in the God's lap during breakfast because there were no more chairs left.

It took a bit of maneuvering around the penguin, but eventually the Trickster sat right next to Holmes, the child that was happily munching his cornflakes in front of him, and Loki was equipped with some granola and a cup of coffee, sternly looking at the engineer.

"All of us want to take a look at the weapons that Mr. Holmes created, Anthony. But you just announced him as the person who killed you. I do not think this is easy for him to take."

The engineer just blinked, and then turned towards Gabriel who indeed looked a bit green behind his cup of tea. If Stark had been inside the suit…

"Uh… I didn't mean it that way. Sorry, kid, 'm only on my second cup of coffee…"

Said that, grinned, and shrugged. He bloody shrugged.

"Th-this is your reaction to just having evaded death?"

Tony just continued drinking his coffee, while Pepper sent him a pained look.

"Believe me, it's better than the last two times. Even though I still could live without him telling the entire planet that he was Iron Man, or giving away our art collection."

"I was still dying when I did that, and it was _my_ art collection."

"Name one picture that was in there."

"Uhm… the one with the flowers?"

Pepper just rolled her eyes.

"Can we please not discuss all the times you were dying?

" _You_ started it!"

With that the woman just turned to Gabriel, looking at the flabbergasted young man.

"See, it's something quite common. Tony's got more lives than a cat, thank God. Don't worry too much, just have a look at the suit and help us to get Thanos off our heels and we're square."

Holmes just continued staring. He assumed that most of this behavior was an act to cope with the imminent threat of losing the man, born all those years ago when Stark had been kidnapped, coming home scarred and a bit broken.

It was also the time Gabriel thought that he definitely had to work on his own backtalk, because he could not come up with anything witty to respond.

So he just took another sip from his admittedly very good tea, making a mental note to ask either Dr. Banner or J.A.R.V.I.S. for the brand.

* * *

MARK VI looked… stunningly intact if you chose to ignore the upper half of the suit as it lay there on the metal table in the lab. It had crashed down from several hundred meters and still, there were only few dents. The paint was what had suffered the most.

Tony let his eyes wander over the damage that the Phase 2 weapon had done, Loki firmly attached to his side as also he also took in the broken suit. Most of the right side of the torso was gone, leaving melted rims where once the Unibeam was located, where Tony had spent hours to make the elaborate metal patterns on the stomach just because it looked good.

The entire right side of the upper half was… gone. Arm, shoulder, chest piece. The most morbid sight was that the head was missing completely. He had J.A.R.V.I.S. look for any parts that might have come loose, and if it only was one finger. Nothing that had complemented one of his suits would fall into the hands of anyone else.

So J.A.R.V.I.S. had used MARK V and swept the area where MARK VI had crashed for hours, while at the same time evaluating the data collected from both CCTV and the suit to get a better insight. After a while he came to the conclusion that there was nothing left of the suit, because the parts that were missing had been evaporated.

Holmes was already diving into the data, oohing and aahing at what the armor still managed to transmit until all devices had been fried and blasted to oblivion. Tony made a mental note to talk to his AI and make sure that the sudden disruption of the connection to the suit had not caused any permanent damage on J.A.R.V.I.S.. After all, this was as close to dying as he could come, short of being switched off by his creator.

Banner was taking a look at the files Gabriel had provided them with. They had not managed to exactly copy the chemical structure of the Tesseract, but had created an isotope of the element, that gave off a little less radiation, but still needed energy to be fueled into it to function.

If not, it was decaying rapidly, and that was most probably what the young man had initiated when shredding one of the electronic components within the weapon.

"The half-life's pretty short, I guess?" he asked, having Holmes make an inarticulate "Hmm?" before he realized that he had been asked a question. Tony moved away from the Demigod who was still staring at the armor, and hooked his chin on Banner's shoulder as he also looked at the chemical formula, cocking his head as he analyzed it.

"'s pretty unstable. Why didn't you go for the stable version?"

"Because S.H.I.E.L.D. had no access to a particle accelerator on short notice and I had to work with what I had at hand. They can be pretty impatient, if you know what I mean, the unstable version was enough as long as it did its job. And even if I had one at hand, it most probably would not have worked", Holmes explained.

"Oh, it would've", Tony murmured, backing away from Banner again. He knew that formula. He himself hat toyed with it, after finding multiple variants of it scribbled on a sheet of paper in the box Fury had left him with.

"Did you create the formula? Or did they provide you with it?" Withstanding the urge to stuff his hands into the pockets of his jeans, the engineer once more addressed the young man, who sent him a confused look.

"I had some old research on the tesseract at hand, and the cube itself for a short amount of time, until they hired Dr. Selvig to play with it. It was mostly figuring out how to synthesize it and weaponized it." Holmes looked at the other man and was a bit irritated. Stark seemed downcast, from one second to the other, as he was flipping through his research, using one grand gesture to open all the relevant files on the holographic table behind the maimed Iron Man suit.

"They already had the formula…", he muttered, leafing through scans of Howard's unmistakable chicken scratch. His jaw was working as he continued, not recognizing a single one of the sheets. They had taken this out of his father's box, and now he was wondering what else they had kept from him. The files he had on _Project Rebirth,_ were they all that existed? Had they expected him to fail? Counted on him to fail, because even if he came up with the same thing, how should it run an arc reactor if it needed to be kick-started first? Thought that he would just come up with the same thing they already had, and they might as well throw him some bones to chew at, and laugh at him if he failed?

Fisting his hand he looked at his father's work, asking himself if he could be at least a little proud that he did better than Howard. That he created his stable element that was yet to be named, that was not giving off any kind of radiation, that ran without having to be kick-started.

That was even better than the tesseract in so many ways, one of them being magic-proof. And tasted a bit of coconut.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., compare Holmes' isotope to our element. Calculate if a reaction could have caused the destruction of MARK VI. We really should come up with a name for it, buddy."

" _I am still voting for_ Starkium _, Sir."_ The AI silently said, as if waiting for his creator to cheer up. Tony simply sighed.

"It would be more appropriate than _Badassium_ , right, buddy?" Tony answered, sounding as demure as he felt. They had the answer in their hands right from the beginning, and yes, even though Howard had been a founding member of S.H.I.E.L.D., his work belonged to Stark Industries and they had stolen from him.

Why had they not approached him? They knew he succeeded in the end, after all, he was still there. Or did they just need a person who was desperate enough to try it out? Did they even know that Tony had managed to create something different from what they had at hand?

"Go through their files, J. I wanna know if they have more of Howard's inventions they chose not to tell me about."

" _Of course, Sir."_

He got three confused looks by now. Where had his cheerful attitude from before gone? Gabriel adjusted his glasses as Tony started to turn away from the holodesk, back to his destroyed suit.

"Why are you working for them, Gabriel? Why are you here? Why are you turning your back on them so fast? How long will it take to reactivate the weapons once they are sure you appeased S.H.I.E.L.D.'s money machine?"

"I… I don't understand…Mr. Stark…?" the boy stammered, and now also Loki sent him a look. Anthony had been taken by the young man and his determination the day before, and he could not observe anything up to now that Mr. Holmes was trying to deceive them. What had caused this sudden change of mind?

Tony just laughed, a humorless sound escaping his throat.

"You know, you almost had me, kid. Just send someone young enough with a sad backstory and Tony Stark will fall for it, just make the kid smart enough, a few family issues, et voilá, the stupid sap will take him under his wings, and S.H.I.E.L.D. can just continue stealing Stark intellectual property as they've done since Howard helped founding this fucking organization."

"I… I would not…" Gabriel tried to defend himself, however, he was at a loss for words.

Tony simply sighed.

"You know, somehow I can even understand it. I'm not easy. Still, how come nobody ever frickin' asks when they want something from me? Everybody always assumes that I'll just be difficult, so let's go behind his back without even trying first. I hope they're paying you well, kid." He ran a finger along the molten ring of metal of MARK VI's torso, mourning the loss of his trusty companion. He would have to build the entire upper half anew, maybe he could at least salvage the left arm… most probably it was easier to scrap it, and build a new suit.

While Banner moved around the table and Loki whispered his name, watching how he was caressing his suit, Gabriel huffed out an offended noise.

"How _dare_ you!"

Three heads snapped around to the young man whose cheeks were flushed with anger.

"You don't know shite about me, how dare you accusing me of selling myself out for something like that! I did not emancipate myself at 16 and put myself through school and university on every penny I could make from every fucking job I could get short of selling my own body to have somebody who grew up with a bloody silver spoon, no, a fucking entire silver tea set in his mouth accuse me that my only very intention was to frame him by doing what I did! I destroyed these weapons because it was the right thing to do! They were in the wrong hands! And I am glad that _I_ built in a safety system to disarm them _before_ any innocent people could get hurt! Yes, S.H.I.E.L.D. was paying my student loans, and yes, this was one of the reasons that I took the job, and I bet they will demand the money back now that I quit, not that I would care, what are some more years of living on a friend's couch and eating noodles for the rest of my life, because at least I am able to live with my decisions!"

Tony took in the flushed face in front of him, grass green eyes narrowed in angers, the glasses to correct Gabriel's myopia making his eyes and the parts of his face they were covering smaller.

Gabriel was still fuming, while Tony started smiling softly.

"See, kid, I think I am allowed to be a bit paranoid about who I trust with my technology, especially after you gave J.A.R.V.I.S. a bit of a headache when running your background check yesterday. Don't you agree, _Mr. Shaw_?" he then said quietly, this odd calm that Loki already felt radiating from the man when he was faced with any threat, be it a mind-controlled God in his Penthouse, an exploding fuel truck, or a modified space-weapon taking down one of his suits radiating from him.

Rather instantly, Gabriel turned as white as a wall, one hand reaching out to stabilize himself on the metal table right next to him. Banner by now was really worried and moved next to the young man, dragging a chair with him.

"You… you checked… of course you checked on me. I would not be down here, otherwise, am I correct?" Gabriel inquired in a hushed voice.

"Yup. What I don't get is why you took S.H.I.E.L.D. over the British Government. They also would have paid your loans, they most probably still will, J had a phone call from a Mr. Cameron after our little chat yesterday, if I'm calling dips on you and they should give up without even trying."

The young man just looked at the engineer, wide eyed, contemplating what he just heard. When he let his gaze stray through the lab, he knew that he would not want to work for Tony Stark. With him, maybe, but not for him. He would constantly feel intimidated by the man's sheer genius, would always question himself… he liked being the smartest person in the room, and with Tony Stark, this was not possible.

He might not have that many options, though.

"If you found out who I am, you also know why I cannot go back."

Tony swallowed hard at that. He had seen the pictures in the police report, had seen the medical files and had loathed the woman who let her husband abuse his teenage step-son to the point of torture and rape. Hoped he would find out that the guy went to prison and his inmates did what they were supposed to do to child molesters, but had not asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to dig further.

"Nobody does a more thorough background check than J.A.R.V.I.S., nobody else will ever find out that Gabriel Holmes has only existed for the past 15 years, and you won't believe how shocked I was when J.A.R.V.I.S. told me you're turning 30 this year. Kept yourself pretty well, kiddo."

"Well, I developed an eating disorder that pops up in high stress situations, but other than that, nobody will ever believe that I am only 8 years younger than you…", he sent the engineer a weary smile. "I can't go back as long as…" Running a hand through his hair he made the hardly tamed strands stick out in a way Tony only managed on his best days and finally sat down on the chair Bruce had pushed right next to him.

"God, I put half a planet between us, an ocean, I got on a frickin' plane, for Christ's sake, forged myself an ID and finished all of my education in the US, and he is still haunting me. He's an old man, most probably would not even recognize me, and London's big… and he's locked up… at least I hope he still is."

Bruce and Loki were still just watching, still trying to figure out what was going on here. They had come down into the lab to look at the suit, at the data, Mr. Holmes' research. They had not been prepared for Tony grilling the obviously traumatized young man.

"You didn't keep track on him?"

Gabriel just shook his head. He had severed these bonds, betrayed by the woman who gave birth to him, abused by the man who should have been his father. In the beginning he had checked, paranoid, after all, he had faked his own death and arranged everything in a way that pointed to his tormentor. He would have loved to see their faces when the police found the pictures he had taken of himself, documenting his own torture for years. It looked like the freak had finally killed the boy in one of his sessions and got rid of the body.

At some point he had forced himself to check no more and buried himself in work.

"J.A.R.V.I.S. could help you with that, if you want to."

Obviously, as fast as Tony had decided that he was a traitor, he just as fast dismissed this thought again.

Gabriel took a deep breath, sitting up straighter on his chair, trying to tame his curls again.

"Maybe I will ask. But right now, we wanted to look at some weapons and the fact that in your eyes I did something wrong with the element we created for S.H.I.E.L.D… Starkium?" he changed the topic, making Tony smirk.

"J, bring up our results… oh, and let us know when Thor and the rest of our merry round appear, or when the Potts are leaving, I wanna say Goodbye."

By the time J.A.R.V.I.S. had affirmed his creator's wish, Gabriel had stood up from his chair, and Tony had moved to his side at the holo-desk. Bruce and Loki shared an astonished look, before also stepping up.

"Alright, shall we?"

* * *

J.A.R.V.I.S. announced Thor's arrival about two hours later, interrupting a highly chemical discussion between Gabriel and Bruce that Loki still tried to follow somewhat, while Tony had conditioned himself already a long time ago to completely fade out chemical babble and was rather poking around in his broken suit. Maybe he could really salvage some of the parts.

Loki was more than reluctant to meet his bro… Tho… ah, he was so tired always correcting himself. Thor was right. They were brothers, he had managed to deny it for all of his fall into the void, but other than that, finding himself in a dark and unknown place, he might or might not have called out for his big brother to come and get him out of there. Even though he'd never admit it.

He lingered behind the other men as they moved out of the elevator that had brought them up from the lab, finding Thor in a shiny new golden armor at the glass door that led to the balcony, once more talking to… MARK VII, if he was not mistaken, greeting the suit as if it was an old companion. Interestingly, the suit this time moved, grabbing at Thor's forearm, exchanging a mutual handshake.

Either J.A.R.V.I.S. had gotten a liking to making fun of the Thunderer, or he really started to relish having a body.

Thor clapped the armor's shoulder once more before opening the door and halfway marching into the Penthouse, looking even larger than he used to be, effectively blocking the entrance.

Gabriel stopped in front of Loki that abruptly, that he almost ran into the young man.

"Dear Lord, I thought you were tall, Loki, but he is… huge! How can anyone have that much muscle?"

Loki sent him a stoic smile. He had always been lean, never had the bulk of muscles that Thor sported, but he was defined (and secretly proud of his eight-pack). The boy was only one thing – scrawny.

"You have just as many muscles as he has, Mr. Holmes. Maybe even one more, Thor does not train the one in his head that much."

While Gabriel and Bruce chuckled at that, Thor had moved to greet Tony, this time delivering a bone-crushing hug that made the other man gasp for air, followed by an apologizing smile from the Thunderer.

"My dear brother, I see that you are feeling better. And according to my knowledge of anatomy, the brain is not a muscle", Thor good-naturedly quipped at Loki, who just cocked his head and raised an eyebrow.

"My dear Thor, being king suits you, it certainly did something for your eloquence."

"With you around, why should I have ever let anyone know that I am not un-armed in this regard? Now who was it that always said it does not hurt to be underestimated?" Thor answered, grinning at his brother who just wore a soft expression, taking in the new armor the Thundergod was sporting. Thor had been the regent of Asgard for more than once, however never had sported the regalia of an actual king. Seeing Gungnir in his brother's hand also was something new. Up to now he always had preferred his hammer, never touching Odin's claim for the throne.

"Odinforce suits you, dear brother. If I had known…", he started, something like hope blooming in his chest. The way Thor presented himself it started to appear unlikely that Odin would reclaim what once was his. The force appeared to have chosen his successor, the man that long since should have replaced the old, weakening king who still clung to the throne.

"Oh, stop bickering like an old married couple. Thor, will you move out of the way, finally? You are not the only one who wants to greet people here!"

Thor got unceremoniously elbowed out of the way as another blonde with a beard that made Tony bite his lip instantly - otherwise he would have made at least five inappropriate Robin Hood jokes -, pushed his way into the Penthouse. So, obviously, Thor had brought another guest and J.A.R.V.I.S. had not deemed it necessary to inform Tony who somehow felt like his tower was turning into a hotel rather than a high-tech company compound.

Fandral completely ignored the owner of this supposed to be high-tech firm tower and his fellow men as he marched into the Penthouse, directly approaching Loki and pulling the slightly protesting Trickster God into a bear hug he could not escape.

"Ó, kæri drengur minn…"

The man was taller than Loki, even a tad taller than Thor, it seemed, but Tony would not bet money on it and was actually mouthing a "Who's that?!" at the Thunderer who was watching in utter astonishment as his brother went stiff as a board at the first hint of a touch, and then, upon realizing _who_ was there, hugging him, softened, and actually briefly rested his forehead against his shield-brother's shoulder, his hands coming to rest at the other man's hips.

"Hvað kom fyrir þig? Þú lítur svo þunn. Ert þú fá neitt að borða?"

Loki actually laughed at that, pulling away from the other man, but not stepping out of his arms.

"Já, ég er meðhöndluð mjög vel hér. Þú ert dónalegir, Fandral."

"As if I would care", the swordsman answered, but finally let go off Loki and turned around to the man who had been greeted so enthusiastically by Thor, sticking out his hand at him.

"Fandral, the Dashing, my pleasure.

Tony just cocked his head, taking once more this telltale millisecond longer than usual before shaking the hand, smiling at the other man.

"Tony Stark, not so dashing, but just as awesome. Did you just ask him if we're feeding him properly?"

Fandral flashed him a smile and rested his left hand on his rapier, making it quite obvious why he carried the sobriquet _Dashing._ "You speak old Norse?"

Tony simply shrugged, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"Somebody once told me that Icelandic was a pain in the ass to learn, and I had a broken wrist, and Peps wouldn't let me fool around with my machines back then, so I had a bit of time at hand… Took me three weeks, my grammar might be horrible, but eh, it's enough to ask for the way and order some pizza."

Loki's eyes flickered his way, recalling the incident in his bedroom. So Tony had understood what he had muttered back then and not said a thing. He did not know if he should feel betrayed or flattered that the man allowed him to have his tiny, almost unrecognizable breakdown without commenting on it.

"Oh, you never tried Malbolge, then", Gabriel piped up, making Tony laugh.

"Seriously, kid? I dream in Malbolge. I invented a new algorithm language when starting on J.A.R.V.I.S. based on Defunge and Brainfuck, just because I can. The latter I just used because I liked the name. My programmers at SI still tell me it's impossible to learn. I think it's rather intuitive. I should find a name for it."

Tony and Gabriel were laughing at that, while the rest of the men in the room just looked confused.

"We do not learn languages, friend Tony. The All-speak renders us able to speak and read all languages spoken in the nine realms", Thor informed him, and a mischievous grin appeared on the engineer's face.

"MajQa' qar? LaH je mugh SoH? Ghotvam'e' qar Dun, chaq tlhIngan laH yaj SoH!"

Tony's grin even widened as the three people having the All-speak threw him a confused look.

" TlhIngan 'e' Sov chaH vIpIHpu', joH Stark. Dajlaw' maH Sindarin, je?" Holmes asked, having Tony grin even more.

"I don't know a word of elvish, we boycott Tolkien here, kiddo. And Klingon with your British accent just sounds so posh, how does anyone manage to make Klingon sound posh?."

"Oh, the blasphemy! Boycotting Tolkien should be a crime, Mr. Stark." It was rather endearing to see Gabriel mock back, only a few hours after Tony more or less had accused him of being a traitor and wanting to frame him for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s good. But apparently, the young man was not resentful and did not even think about helping his former employer to get back into the good graces of Tony Stark, but rather offered to do some hacking himself to make sure they could not even pay for their morning coffee.

"The name's Tony, and yeah, not in this house, and we're also boycotting Stephenie Meyer and E.L. James."

"Now _that_ I can understand. Why should one _read_ soft porn? That's what we have the internet for. And vampires that _sparkle? Seriously?"_

While Loki rolled his eyes because they were having this discussion _again_ , Bruce just sent an apologizing look at the Æsir in the Penthouse that were sporting some really confused expressions by now.

"Welcome to the madhouse", was all the physicist said, having Loki once more lift one of his brows. Fandral was simply smiling.

"I think I will like being here."

* * *

Thor and Fandral had moved to the guest floor to also properly greet the Thundergod's other shield-brothers and sister before heading to the conference room, and secretly Tony was flinching at the thought of considering Natasha anything like that. She was giving him the creeps, she had proven to be a traitor already once, and he did not want her anywhere near.

Holmes had accompanied them as Mrs. Stark and her family started to invade the living room, the amount of bags clearly demonstrating that the Potts/Hunts were leaving, and he did not want to interrupt their goodbyes like he had interrupted the breakfast.

Pepper's family indeed was getting ready to leave, after Owen had done one final check up on Agent Hill. She was still out of it, and the doctors from S.H.I.E.L.D. had somehow been reminded of their Hippocratic Oath, refusing to move her into any S.H.I.E.L.D. facility before she had not regained consciousness. And then somebody, preferably experienced in all things concerning mind control should have a look at her, before she was thrown into a holding cell and interrogated about things she did not have any control about. Apparently, people around that organization decided now to grow a backbone.

Samuel was still dragging the penguin with him and now highly impressed by the monumental image of Thor, and also presented Tony and Bruce with their drawings consisting of stick figures with hair that vaguely matched theirs. Bruce's showed him, sitting in the kitchen with the grandparents and some large mugs of tea, obviously he had been talking with them enough times to make it a lasting impression for the boy.

Tony of course got Iron Man and was that flattered that he stared discussing with J.A.R.V.I.S. how to frame the picture and where to put it on display.

The boy was fidgeting a bit in front of Loki as he presented the God with the sheet of paper that was intended for him.

"It is beautiful, Samuel, thank you very much", he said with a smile, easily making out that he was supposed to be portrayed by the tallest dark-haired figurine, surrounded by all the people that had been living in the Penthouse in the past few days. The boy had painted himself right next to him, and Loki tried to remember if he had ever taken the child by its hand as it was displayed here. Of course, also _Private_ was not missing.

"Mr. Loki…?"

The Demigod squatted in front of the boy who all of a sudden seemed pretty shy again, while the other men in the Penthouse were loading the luggage into the elevator and the women were busy making future plans of who should be visiting when and where.

Well, at least they were determined to keep in contact this time.

"Yes, Samuel?"

The boy threw a quick glance at Bruce before turning to Loki again.

"Aunt Ginny said that if I wanted Mr. Bruce to be my Uncle I could just say so."

Not really getting what the child wanted to tell him, Loki simply nodded.

"If the Lady Pepper said this, it must be true", he answered, smiling at the boy's chuckle about his calling his aunt a different name.

"Sooo… could I also say that I want you to be my Uncle?"

Loki actually was blinking a few times before really realizing what Sam had just asked him, feeling oddly flattered that the boy had taken such a liking in him, for whatever reason.

"Do you want me to be you Uncle, Samuel?"

Sam nodded, making an "Mmmhmmm" sound, looking at him so expectantly that Loki couldn't help but smile and tousle the kid's hair.

"Well, then you have a new Uncle, I guess", he answered, having Samuel squeal in joy.

"Are you also coming to visit me? Uncle Tony said that they will go to Ma-li-bu when this cluster-mess is over, and Ma-li-bu is in California and that's not so far from Seattle, and that he and Aunt Ginny will visit!" The child looked at him with his big, blue eyes, while he was still mesmerizing about the fact that Anthony appeared to have self-censored at least this time, otherwise Samuel would have learned the incredibly useful word clusterfuck right away (or would be pointing out to anyone that one of his newly acquired uncles had said a bad word).

Apparently, he was not fast enough to school his astonished expression, and especially the sad feelings that overcame him, because this would hardly be possible, they would discuss Thanos, and then he would be off to Asgard. The boy just started another attempt.

"Please, Uncle Loki?"

The Demigod sighed.

"Samuel, I have to go back to Asgard, with Mr. Thor."

Those big blue eyes were still looking at him, making him squirm.

"And you're never coming back?" the child asked with a hushed, shaking voice, making Loki backpedal instantly.

"No, of course I am coming back, I just do not know how long it will take. I am going to Asgard to help your Uncle Tony to take the bad guys down. I do not know if I can join when they are visiting you.

Samuel seemed to think about that, contemplating his options.

All of a sudden Loki ended up with the penguin shoved to his chest.

"Then you take _Private_ with you, and when you come back you _have_ to visit me and give him back!"

There he was, Loki of Asgard, Silvertongue, the man who had talked armies out of war, rendered speechless by a mere child who was skipping away from him with a "Bye, Uncle Loki!", before wrapping himself around his father's leg as they were entering the elevator

He forced himself to bid his farewells as he stood up straight again, the penguin still hugged to his chest. He was alone in the Penthouse when he finally woke from his stupor.

"Madhouse, indeed", he muttered, turning towards the stairs to safely store the stuffed animal in his bedroom

* * *

Tony was bouncing back and forth on his heels as the elevator headed up to the fourth floor again, where they would be meeting in one of the conference rooms when J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him that his limousine (the Bentley, not the Cadillac, he didn't have time up to now to look at the motor-sound) had left for the airport and that Nick Fury and Colonel Rhodes had arrived at the tower.

"You know, if Junior is only half as cute as Sam is, none of us will be able to say no to him. That boy has wrapped a badass Norse God around his little finger", he grinned, having Pepper smile in return as they waited for the elevator to arrive at the correct level.

"I think it was good for Loki. He loves children, that much is obvious, and he is good with them. You know how wary Owen was at the first evening. If my brother trusts you with his child, you cannot be a completely bad person", she said, moving into his personal space and briefly resting her head against his shoulder which was rewarded by a quick kiss against her temple before she straightened herself again, the elevator having reached their floor.

"Junior will be twice as cute, you know", she then stated before the doors started opening.

"That means we stand no chance, huh?" Tony laughed, his hand still at the small of her back as he guided her out, throwing a quick glance at the people gathered in the hallway. Loki was standing close to Bruce and Gabriel, the two scientists most probably continuing their science babble from before.

Thor, Fandral, Rogers, and Barton were already sitting in the conference room where the blonde God _without_ the golden armor was just animatedly reciting some story, and obviously the man had just as much an indoor voice as Thor himself. At least Clint was laughing while Captain Spandex wore an irritated expression.

"How many shoes will you buy me for not insulting Thor with every second word?" Pepper asked as her first heel clicked on the polished black granite they had used for the lobby of the business levels in the tower, effectively drawing Tony's attention back to her as she looped her arms around his biceps.

"Sweetheart, you are waaaay too professional to do anything like that. But I heard Prada's gonna have some heels with flames protruding out in the back, I could order you some of those", was his cheeky retort, having her swat his arm.

"I already ordered what I like from their new winter collection, they've got 12 inch heels and a 1 inch plateau in a dark red", Pepper teased, knowing that most of the time he did not care that she was taller in her pumps… if she was not towering over him.

"Good, then you can spit on top of Thor's head and match my suit once you got them." That got him a grin as he caught her hand that was wrapped around his upper arm and gave it a soft squeeze.

"You go and have J.A.R.V.I.S. set up everything? I'll go and fetch our science boys", Tony suggested, having his significant other nod and let go off him as he scampered away to the group at the other end of the lobby.

Pepper had only set foot into the room when the doors to the second elevator opened, revealing both Nick Fury and James Rhodes. Though, while Rhodes seemed rather reluctant to leave the cabin, especially after Tony had spotted him and sent him a look as if he had dragged in some roadkill, Fury's steps instantly turned into the direction of the scientists and the Trickster God.

"Hey, Nicky, I hope you've cooled down, finally, and we can talk about this like…"

He had wanted to say adults, but Fury's hand connected with his chest, knocking the wind out of his as he skidded along the granite floor, his back crashing against a wall as he finally came to a halt.

Gabriel ducked out of the way as the director reached also for him, the one-eyed gaze never leaving the Demigod who seemed as shocked as everyone else by the unjustified assault.

Bruce was briefly contemplating whether Loki would need his help, but then decided that the Demigod could take care of himself so he circled around, quickly approaching Tony who was gasping and coughing, trembling hands reaching up to his chest. He did not even want to imagine what damage Fury might have done with his blow against the engineer's sternum… or what was left of it…

Loki was confronted with a madly glowing blue eye and strength he had not encountered on any Midgardian as Nicolas Fury's hand closed around his throat, shoving him up against the wall right behind him.

"Nú loksins hef ég fundið þig", a voice said that made his mind scream in agony while all of his limbs locked, refusing to follow any of his orders. He knew this was a simple mortal, he could almost hear his bones and tendons grind under the tension that was forced upon them to keep a God up against a wall, he knew he could snap this being in half and none of his appendages would follow his orders.

"Hélstu virkilega að þú gætir fela mig?"

The man moved closer, pushing his thumbs, oh dear Norns, he felt thumbs against his carotid and Loki _could not move_!

"Ef þú mistakast, ef þú svíkur hann, það verður engin ríki, engin óbyrja tunglið, engin Sprungan þar sem hann mun ekki finna þig. Þú heldur að þú veist sársauka?

 _If you fail, if you betray HIM, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where HE will not find you. You think you know pain?_

Fury's face moved even closer to the God's, sneering as Loki was trying to breathe, the Other's words that he had heard already once reminding him of what he went through to even get in the place to be addressed with them.

"Hann mun gera þér lengi fyrir eitthvað sætara sársauka", Fury breathed against his face.

 _HE will make you long for something as sweet as pain._

Loki had no doubt that his punishment would be rather creative.


	16. Fragile

**_Chapter 16: Fragile_**

 _Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. (Lao Tzu)_

* * *

Fandral, the Dashing had not thought that his trip to Midgard would take violent turns this time. After all, it was more of a diplomatic mission, strategic consulting, that had brought Thor and him here. Actually, he just had annoyed Thor long enough to take him with him, after all, he was the King of Asgard, the future All-father, he was supposed to have some entourage, at least.

After what his friend had told him about Loki's afflictions, and he was pretty sure that his shield-brother had yet to tell him everything, he bethought himself on the times he had spent with his friend's baby brother, coming to the conclusion that ever since Odin decided to become more and more gruesome with whatever punishment he deemed appropriate for whatever reason he had to punish his adoptive (not that they had known that back then) son, his friends, the people who were supposed to have his back had in fact turned their back on him.

It made him think about when he had stopped caring. He still remembered that scrawny boy, too small, too thin for any armor that was put on him when he was sent to combat training along with Thor. The older Odinson always had been sturdy, albeit a bit clumsy with all the strength he carried around with himself already at a very young age. Loki was young, too young probably, but he knew very well that he would not stand a chance against the brutes that were supposed to train with him.

He had never seen a child so afraid in his life, yet hiding it so well. He was pretty sure none of the other boys ever knew that Loki was terrified each and every time he had to step foot into the training area.

Fandral had just come of age when Thor was born, the golden prince's arrival announced to all realms with clarions and festivities. Loki's arrival a few centuries later was silent, no big matter. At some point, the reigning couple of Asgard simply had another son.

By then, even though a young man, he had proven himself in battle, had slain Jotnar in Odin's army, had been belittled by his fellow soldiers for choosing the rapier over axes or claymore swords. He had shown them what he could do with a blade that was thinner, lighter, and sharper than anything they would drag on a battlefield, and had been awarded his sobriquet Dashing, not only because he was actually bathing before he tried to woo the fairer sex (or whatever else appealed to his tastes), but because he was, indeed, dashing.

While Thor and all the other Æsir klutzes tried beating each other up with claymores twice the size of them, Loki had not even tried lifting one, his gaze straying to his teacher who was just shaking his head about the boys, resting his hand on the handle of his floret.

Thor and the other galoots won most of their training fights against the younger Odinson. Though, most of the time it was not by ability and skills, but by brute force, destroying the rapier in the smaller boy's hand and declaring themselves the winners (a tactic that Thor had used once and that since then had been copied by any of the other brutes), because Loki did not have a weapon anymore. And while an honorable warrior would have ended the training session then and there, it was Loki who always ended up being pushed into the dirt, to manifest their position _above_ him.

It was them, however, who went home bleeding, poked all over their bodies by the lightning-swift foil, and in the teacher's eyes none of the other boys actually was worth the effort put in their training. They simply lacked the finesse to appreciate a sharp, lightweight blade.

Loki was still taking lessons with the rapier when the other boys had long decided that hack-and-slay was the method they preferred and had moved on to simply bashing their heads in in hand-to-hand combat. The younger boy was hopelessly inferior to his class-mates in this regard, and actually, Fandral remembered giving him extra lessons so he could stand his ground without simply being run over.

The older Loki got, the harder it became for his peers to subdue him, and soon they turned to belittling him because he was using what he had at hand, namely his magic. Not that by now he not also would have been able to stand his ground without, but they had been bullying him long enough that he _wanted to win and see_ them _in the dirt_.

Coming to think of it… Fandral tried to remember when he had crossed the border of playful banter with his favorite student to outright insulting and belittling a fellow warrior. Somehow, whatever magic he cooked up on the battlefield was very helpful, more than once saving their lives. In the aftermath, though, most of the time Thor started joking about his baby brother cheating, with Volstagg, Sif and Hogun singing along.

And he, who had been looked down upon for choosing the foil over the broadsword, had been chanting the same tune.

All of this ran through the swordsman's head as he leaped out of his chair as the beautiful redhead that had just entered the room where he was entertaining one of Thor's new companions (the other one appeared to have a stick up his arse, though) turned around to some commotion from the lobby outside the conference room.

The shrill, soul-shattering scream of "Tony!" that pierced the air made him move before Thor even reacted to anything out there, made him jump over the table in an agility that he had not presented for centuries because it simply had not been necessary and he was glad that his reflexes were still as fast as they used to be.

He actually used some invaluable seconds to make the female remain in the doorsill instead of rushing to the very obviously injured man at the other end of the entrance hall, who was clutching his chest and coughing up blood, before he saw Loki shoved up against a wall by the dark-skinned man with the eyepatch that Thor had described to be Director Fury.

All Fandral could see was the scared boy who was mustering up all of his strength to not lose his face in front of people he should not even care about, and it made him let go off the human female who actually dug a painfully sharp heel into his foot and made him curse wearing the soft leather boots before launching himself at this lowly being who was threatening and laying hands on a God.

* * *

Tony was leaning against the wall he had crashed into, doing an inventory on all his limbs and was hoping desperately that nothing important had snapped. He could move his legs and arms, which was at least something that told him that Fury had not managed to damage his spinal cord.

The stupid thing was that the man had pushed where it hurt the most, right at the place where the casing of his reactor was lodged into his sternum, knocking the wind out of him instantly, he was not sure if he had heard something crack or not, and he was pretty sure that his skin had ruptured where it was connected with the case, and he was also bleeding there.

Bruce appeared right next to him, and also Gabriel was approaching him while Fury, or rather the thing that possessed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dear Director was threatening a stock-still Loki in a language the engineer was pretty sure Mr. Eyepatch was not capable of speaking, and of course they wanted to touch him, sending his mind to a place where Obadiah Stane was looming over him, the device to steal his heart still in his hands, telling him that now, finally, it was his time to die.

It made him swat away hands that tried to open his dress shirt, an uncoherent thought appearing in his mind that from now on he would only wear black, because nobody would be able to _see_ him bleeding, and while Gabriel gave up after his first try, big green eyes staring at his secret idol with a rather shell-shocked expression, Bruce tried another time, talking to him in a soothing voice. His rational mind knew that the other man meant no harm, that he was trying to calm him down, that he only wanted to help.

His lizard brain was in fight-or-flight mode, though, and since he could not run away right now, he swatted at the other man's hands again, coughing at the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.

He heard Pepper yell his name, and the blonde God Thor had dragged along cuss over something before there was even more commotion in the lobby, and he felt the light weight of his wife on his lap, his mind still yelling _Run! Run! Run!_ at him. Subliminally, he registered that she had pushed Bruce out of the way, the other man ending up on his rear as he overbalanced after she shoved him. Brave little Pepper, going against the Hulk for him…

Small hands caught his head, making him look at her, locking on those pale-blue eyes that had chased away more than one nightmare in the past four years, and he coughed again.

"Tony… you are in the lobby at Stark tower. You had an accident. Please, let Bruce look at you, you are bleeding around the reactor, and coughing up blood. Love, your lung might be damaged, we really need to look at you, J.A.R.V.I.S., tell Happy to turn around, we need Owen. Tony… please."

She tried to remain calm, that much he could see, and he knew where he was and what had happened, still, after what had happened to him, having issues with anyone going near his reactor was only natural. It had taken him months to let Pepper touch it again, and he'd gotten better at exchanging it himself.

Still, he tried making an effort, and first of all he needed to tell her that he was not exactly coughing _up_ blood.

His hands moved from where they were shielding his heart to caress her cheek, catching a stray tear.

"B-bit my tongue… Lungs're fine… 'm breathing ok…" he rasped out, before catching Bruce's hand one more time.

"Tony, please, I really need to…"

"G-get 'em outta here… S.H.I.E.L.D.'s not sup-supposed to… know…" Theoretically, they knew about the reactor. The old one, which was using palladium as catalyst. Phil, Fury, and Romanoff had seen it. But here, there were low-levels creeping around that most probably did not even have the clearance to know what Fury had for breakfast.

The public did not know about his tiny heart problem, and he'd rather keep it that way. His eyes turned to Gabriel, silently pleading him.

"P-please… take 'em outta… here…" Every breath he took hurt, pushing the casing that had come loose against a severely bruised or even cracked bone that was not intact to begin with.

The other scientist simply nodded before getting up to face the chaos in the lobby.

Fandral and Clint had subdued Director Fury, holding the violently struggling man down on the floor. He could hear the archer yell something about not hitting the other man on the head.

Thor was kneeling right next to Loki who was sitting on the floor, his back against the wall next to the entrance of the conference room, dark bruises starting to form around his throat. The God's hands were shaking as his eyes rested on the engineer at the other side of the lobby, subconsciously brushing away his brother's hands that were trying to reach out for him, comfort him… do something against the full body shudder that now claimed the younger Demigod.

Straightening his form, Gabriel did the only thing he thought logical in the moment.

He asked for help.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., is there anywhere in the tower where we can restrain Director Fury? He may also need medical assistance. The rest of us should leave this level…" he threw another uncertain glance at Tony before addressing the few black suits that were creeping around, #2 from yesterday looking as clueless as everyone else.

"Please head down to the third floor, after all Mr. Stark has requested that you leave the tower today. Finish packing. We will contact you as soon as we know how we are going to proceed."

J.A.R.V.I.S. directed them to some high security holding cells in the basement of the tower, which made also Clint throw another glance at Tony. So there had been cells, and they had locked up a supposedly dangerous criminal in a printer room. But, coming to think of it, nobody had thought of simply asking if there were means to incarcerate people in the tower.

Pepper had finally left the man's lap, sitting next to him, fingers tightly entwined.

Thor's buddy and the archer had just pulled Fury and whatever thing had occupied his mind up as the elevator opened one more time, revealing Natasha Romanoff, almost running into a still shell-shocked unmoving James Rhodes.

It took her a few seconds to analyze the chaos that ensued in the lobby, and secretly she was cursing herself for being late, for trying to keep a distance to her fellow Avengers and all the other people that Stark had decided to pull into this mess.

She was used to operating on a level that required staying unknown. It was her insurance of getting out of situations like these alive. The scowl in Nick Fury's face, the non-natural glow in his remaining eye, they were clues she had been looking for in the past days, clues that finally tipped her investigations and opinion to Loki's favor.

"Take him to one of the holding cells in the basement. We need to interrogate him, so don't hit him on the head." She did not even know if this entity could not also break the connection by itself, but better be safe than sorry.

"Do you need medical assistance?" she then asked with a glance towards Stark and then to what she could see of the God of Mischief who was almost completely hidden by the frame of Thor's bulk.

It was Potts who answered with a dismissive "'s already on the way", that made her gesture for the Asgardian God and Barton to move their former boss. S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel and the boy who had designed the Phase 2 weapons moved towards the other elevator.

Rhodes threw a glance at his former friend, fisting his hand before turning around to join them. He never really liked Tony, and had envied him more than actually tried to get to know him. Starting to regret that now wouldn't help, though, that chance had passed… Tony obviously had made some new friends.

* * *

The second _the Other_ was made to let go off him, Loki sank down to the floor, his legs giving way under him and he was not able to do anything against it. The portal had been closed, his torturer had no reason, no justifiable right to be on Midgard, he was supposed to be on his rock, this uninhabitable stone that the Chitauri claimed to be their home, he was supposed to _not_ be here, pushing his _thumbs_ against the God's carotid, numbing his entire body with fear.

The numbness left at least part of him, as he had not even yet reached the floor, pain spiking through his thigh muscle, brief, hot and searing, making him gasp and move his hip joint in a way to ease the pain, providing an oddly welcome distraction and a wakeup call at the same time.

Thor was on his knees, right next to him when he finally was able to lift his head, to take a breath that was more than hyperventilating while his fingernails tried to damage the lithoidal flooring that Anthony seemed to be so fond of.

He could hear the sound of Thor's voice, not really registering the words his brother was addressing at him, yet he flinched away as the Thundergod reached out, one of his large hands landing in his shoulder, bringing him back to reality.

"Loki! Are you harmed in any way?!"

Thor sounded pretty hysterical, most probably because he was not asking this question for the first time since Fandral had leaped out of his chair and over the table to throw himself at Director Fury who just had catapulted their friend across the entire lobby and was lifting up the God of Mischief by his throat.

Was he harmed? His upper leg hurt, but it did that every now and then since the day of the wedding. It would vanish as soon as it had appeared. His throat hurt, and he was pretty sure he was wearing some colorful bruises by now, they always showed easily on his ivory skin.

His gaze was locked on the group of people on the other end of the room. Lady Pepper sat on Anthony's lap, her pencil skirt had skidded up to reveal most of her creamy thighs, and once more he thought that the women on Midgard obviously had no shame.

On the other hand, she appeared to be calming down Anthony, who was doing everything in his power to keep Dr. Banner away from his chest.

"LOKI!"

His gaze snapped to Thor, who by now looked beyond worried, watching at the same time how Gabriel took control of the situation, asking for means to restrain the man with the eyepatch and maneuvering most of the other people away from the lobby. Agent Romanoff joined the just then, aiding her former colleague.

"I am… not harmed…", he whispered, trying not to scoot back even more into the wall when Thor moved closer, his hand squeezing his shoulder.

"Do you think you can get up?" When had Thor ever sounded so… so soft? So concerned? Loki's somewhat unfocused gaze followed the crowd that more or less willingly left the lobby, following a man that actually held no rank over them anymore. Within the blink of an eye, they were gone.

And suddenly, it was too quiet in the hall, and his eyes strayed back to Anthony. Lady Pepper had moved down from his lap, sitting right next to him now, her hands never ceasing to caress the engineer's face and hair with the hand that was not trapped in a vice-like grip by the injured man.

Only now the Demigod realized that Anthony was bleeding, blood staining the corners of his mouth, running down to the neatly trimmed beard. He had changed into a white dress shirt and black dress pants, matching Loki's attire. On his chest, a dark half-circle was appearing, and this was apparently what Dr. Banner was fussing about, ripping open the shirt and the undershirt, betraying his own words that without the Hulk he could not hurt a fly or damage a thing. The fabric tore like paper under his fingers, and finally the God of Mischief and Chaos knew what had made him distinguishable to the Lady Pepper during their play of disguise.

Thor next to him gasped, his gaze following his brother's as he did not get an answer to his question, Loki's fingers suddenly curling around the fingers of his free had that did not lay on his shoulder, stretched out to help him back to his feet, lingering somewhere midair as his brother did not react.

The blue glow of the reactor did match the tesseract's glow so frighteningly close that both Gods instantly researched the engineer's face for signs of possession, for the mad features that both of their last visitors had obtained.

Chocolate brown eyes were still locked on Lady Pepper's face, most of the color having drowned from Anthony's countenance as he coughed and another gush of blood made it down to his chin. Lady Pepper did not seem to care, her own fingers drenched in red by now, her spouse leaning into the caress as Dr. Banner carefully examined the contraption in his chest.

A web of scars circled around abused skin, toned pectoral muscles were moving up and down with the man's struggle to breathe, fear shining in his eyes.

"The skin has ripped around almost the entire casing, Tony. We'll need some scans to see what happened to your sternum… the casing looks loose, to be honest… I think we should wait for Owen, I have no clue what I should do…" Dr. Banner elaborated, clearly unable to fully cope with this situation.

It was J.A.R.V.I.S. who requested to bring his creator to the Penthouse or the laboratory, where the most fine-tuned scanners were installed, before taking him into the medical unit when Dr. Hunt finally rushed out of the elevator a few minutes later, thanking the traffic in New York when he was questioned how he managed to get back to the tower that fast.

The chauffeur had not turned around, the surgeon had simply run back the few blocks they had managed to drive, ordering his family to step into his brother-in-law's private jets, no matter how long he would take at Stark Tower.

Loki simply let his head roll back against the wall, closing his eyes. What was he supposed to do next?

What to do next?

* * *

Owen Hunt was used to the sight of a battlefield, having stitched up and sewn together more soldiers than he dared to count, losing his fair share of patients along the way, because the injuries had been to grave.

It was a trained glance that he threw into the lobby of the fourth floor in Stark Tower after secretly being glad that he was still running every morning to keep in shape, so he did not arrive here as a sweating, breathless mess.

He could see Loki huddled against a wall together with Thor who was trying to get his brother's attention more than once. The younger Demigod, however, was completely occupied with glancing towards the other end of the hall, where Ginny, Dr. Banner, and Tony were.

It was pretty obvious by now, why J.A.R.V.I.S. had made it rather urgent for him to return to the tower.

Loki appeared well enough, dark bruises glowing around his throat, one hand firmly gripping his brother's while the other was balled into a fist right next to him. Tony, on the other hand…

"Lungs're f-fine, b-bit my t-tongue…" the engineer informed the surgeon as he calmly squatted next to the man on the floor, his eyes firmly trained on the other man's face even though the blue glowing device on his chest was screaming at him _foreign object_.

"Alright… I suppose this thing in your chest was already there before you were assaulted?" To be honest, Owen had not the slightest clue how to handle this. But since his life in Seattle resembled more or less some soap opera drama with randomly interspersed catastrophes, he was pretty sure he somehow would also handle this.

"Okay. We need a gurney, I don't want you to get up. Bruce, would you, please?"

The physicist simply nodded and moved towards the elevator to ride up to medical and get one.

Tony flinched as the surgeon investigated his ribs, telling him that most probably nothing was broken there, blue eyes once more locking on the device in his chest.

"What does it do?" Would it interfere with the machines? Would…

"'ve got shrapnel in my chest. 's an electrom-magnet, k- keeps them outta my h-heart… also works as a p-pacemaker…", Tony elaborated, trying to take a deep breath and whining as pain bloomed in his entire upper body.

"The day Tony was kidnapped in Afghanistan, a missile exploded right next to him. Another captive they had performed the surgery and saved his life. His sinus node's not working properly since then, hence the pacemaker function", Virginia explained, oddly calm and sorted, but Owen supposed _if_ somebody knew about this contraption in the inventor's chest, it would be her.

"Okay… so, no MRI for you…" Leaning in to closer investigate the casing and how it was attached to bones and skin, he let his fingers glide over the network of scars around it, taking in how crude the casing looked when compared to the apparatus it was housing.

"You changed the machine though… why not the casing?" he asked, slightly pushing the cylinder. Tony gasped as it was moving, and Owen suppressed a growl. However it had been attached to the bones, it had come loose.

"We don't exactly have a cardiothoracic surgeon we trust… otherwise we would have long gotten rid of the shrapnel and the reactor…", Ginny answered, her hand never ceasing to move through Tony's hair.

"Well… we should get him to medical first, see how much damage was done. I can do… some phone calls, if you'd like me to. I know… well… someone, who might be thrilled." Owen trailed off, not really sure why he had offered this opportunity in the first place.

" _May I suggest first bringing Sir into the Penthouse or the Lab to have him scanned? My equipment still exceeds that of the medical unit. And maybe also Master Loki should be taken to medical. He appears to be in shock."_ J.A.R.V.I.S. piped up, transmitting all his worry for his creator with just his voice while he was already making plans to up the security and defense mechanisms in the entire tower.

It was easy for him to defend his family in the Penthouse, or the Laboratory, he had state of the art weapons in every ceiling, scanners everywhere. He did have no such things on the business levels that were supposed to be rented out. He would make sure to equip at least what floors were used by Stark Industries personnel to a minimal standard.

Tony simply trained his eyes away from his wife while Pepper's and Owen's heads whipped around. Thor was still cowering next to his brother who had his head back against the wall, eyes closed, not reacting to anything the God of Thunder did to gain his attention.

Loki's eyes opened as a hand touched his cheek, coming face to face with the redhead doctor who was checking on him, turning his head this way and that, shining a bright light into his eyes, talking to him, asking him questions.

"I… do not know the date or the day, Dr. Hunt… I assure you, though, I am not harmed, but merely resting myself after that assault." He sounded hoarse, and suddenly, swallowing hurt.

Owen snorted at that as Loki blinked away the spots he was seeing from being flashed with the light from the end of what looked like a pen.

"Well, you're still talking like Shakespeare scripted for you, so I guess you should be fine. I still wanna have a look at those bruises, though, once I examined Tony, so don't run away, young man!"

Intriguingly, that was what made Loki really snap out of his stupor, actually laughing at the phrase. He was no young man in any sense of the words, even though he looked younger than most of the people in the tower, except Mr. Holmes, maybe.

That was also when he realized that he was still holding onto Thor's hand, and thought for about half a second to rip it out of his brother's hold. The older God, though, still looked so concerned and slightly afraid, that he simply leaned in, and started pulling himself up with the Thundergod's help.

* * *

In the end, Loki ended up on one of the beds in the medical unit right next to Anthony, to whom Dr. Hunt was apologizing profoundly for torturing him a bit while establishing a vascular access to hook him up on pain medication. Apparently, this was something he did not do very often, cursing and praising his nurses at the hospital under his breath.

The engineer waved him off, leaning into Pepper's touch who was never leaving his side, even though her brother had tried to shoo her out. Thor stubbornly remained at Loki's side, even though the younger Demigod had made it quite clear that he did not need his big brother to look after him.

Bruce had excused himself by then, tinged slightly green around the edges, and had decided to hide away/ mediate in his room for a while if nobody needed him.

J.A.R.V.I.S. had reported that he had rescheduled the meeting as he scanned the engineer during a brief stop to the Penthouse before Owen insisted on taking him to the medical floor, telling him to move as little as possible before turning to the Demigod, a professional hand lifting his chin. He could count every finger that had been pressed against the other man's throat, the thumb seemed to have moved, as there were two marks that were turning dark purple. Fingernails had left tiny half-moon shapes in the milky skin.

"Were you unconscious?" he asked, that blinding light once more directed to Loki's eyes while the Demigod shook his head, not really trusting his voice.

"Does talking or swallowing hurt?"

The Demigod could not exactly answer this question right away, because the surgeon made him open his mouth to shine this stupid light also in there while using a wooden spatula to depress his tongue. Dear Norns, the healers on Asgard were not poking that much when examining someone.

Loki nearly face-palmed after that thought, because, actually, he could do something about the state of his neck and his maltreated esophagus and trachea.

"I will be fine, Dr. Hunt, but I appreciate your concern. To be honest, I do not really require your services", he said, his voice still hoarse. And yes, it did hurt, but he closed his eyes and focused on the damage, letting his magic wash over his skin, repair the damages that had been done. When he opened his eyes again, he was confronted with a smirking Thor, and a flabbergasted Midgardian doctor.

"Al-right… That's some handy little trick." Loki was a bit surprised how well the human took his show of making the bruises disappear, only to have his head lifted again, before his eyes and throat were examined once more.

"Should've seen him a week ago… Bruce smashed him into my marble floor. 'm… getting a little high here, 's that supposed to be like that? Are there going to be pink elephants?" Tony piped in, his speech slightly slurred and slow. His tongue by now had stopped bleeding, but was swelling.

"I didn't give you any opiates, Tones, so no pink elephants. The pain's subsiding, so try to get some rest. I will have a look at J.A.R.V.I.S.'s scans to figure out what's damaged, and what we can do. I may have to consult with a close friend of mine, an orthopedic surgeon, though, to figure out a way to stabilize the casing again. Would that be ok?" Owen asked, once more subconsciously nicknaming Tony who was relaxing into his pillow, leaning back his head, his fingers never leaving Pepper's hand, his grip still white-knuckled around her fingers, though.

He did not tell him yet that they would have to move him for that to a regular hospital, with anesthesiologists, nurses, and a regular OR.

"Hmmm… sure. Just fly in whatever you need… or whoever you need…"

Owen frowned at that answer, even though he was glad that the pain medication was working, even though it seemed to make his brother-in-law drowsy, his eyes drooping.

"We have a fully equipped OR here, Owen. Just… bring whoever and whatever you need", Virginia explained, her eyes flitting to the man in the hospital bed. "You said you knew someone who might be able to help with the shrapnel…", she then trailed off.

Owen nodded. "I will make some phone calls, and have a look at the scans. Do they need any help with the guy who attacked them? Was he hurt?"

"We should… question… Fury. Or whoever… that guy was…" Tony slurred, trying to sit up, only to be gently pushed down again by his doctor and his wife, while two Demigods rushed to the hospital bed to keep him in it.

"Agent Romanoff and the skinny boy moved him to one of your holding cells that your ethereal being suggested. Fandral is with them, and friend Clinton. They for sure will be able to handle this situation", Thor supplied, looking at his brother. It would be better to have him down there, too, after all, he knew best what beast they might have captured here.

"Yeaah… I trust Ms. Natashalie Rushmanoff… about as far… as I can throw a helicarrier. Pep… can you handle the conference… about what we'll do… next…?" Tony was still having problems with breathing, fatigue making him recline even further into his pillows.

"I will join Miss Romanoff and investigate whether Director Fury requires medical assistance. The Other is simply occupying his mind, making him do things", Loki offered, pointedly ignoring the worried looks Thor was sending him. The man… the beast… needed to be interrogated, and up to now only people who belonged to the organization that wanted their downfall, no matter what it cost, were talking to him.

What made the human strong enough to push him up a wall he still had to figure out. He was determined though, to face the beast, to combat his numbing fear of Thanos' guard dog, to get some insight.

Thor nodded as well. "Fandral will accompany you. The Lady Pepper and I will inform your fellow leaders and the remaining Avengers of what we were planning to do next."

Pepper did not say anything to that, but she sent her brother a skeptical look. Their original plan of having Tony accompany Loki to Asgard as a witness would not work out anymore. He was nowhere near able to travel, and convalescence from cardiovascular surgery would take months…

She bowed down, her nose burying in Tony's hair, pressing her lips against his temple.

"Try to sleep a bit, Honey. We'll take care of everything."

* * *

Loki took a deep breath before he entered the room to which J.A.R.V.I.S. had him directed, finding the Black Widow, Agent Barton, Mr. Holmes and Fandral occupying most of the space in the darkened room in front of a one way mirror, curiously examining the man who had been cuffed to a table in the cell that was equipped with a bed and sanitary installations behind a chest-high wall.

Director Fury had given up struggling, and just sat there, his eye directed at the mirror, knowing that he was examined from there.

The man from S.H.I.E.L.D. that had already failed taking control the day before was lurking somewhere in the back, obviously quite glad that he did not have to drag their director into a prison cell, and unlucky enough to be high enough in rank to having to witness all of this. He was leaning against the wall awkwardly, trying to keep as much distance as possible to the blonde God, who was leaning against the same wall.

Gabriel was the first to turn around, a guilty look on his face as he clutched an object of similar size and shape to a handgun in his hand, an ominous blue glow radiating from it.

"He still had one of my prototypes, one of the very first that I did not hook up with the self-destroy button", the young man said, pushing his glasses up his nose with his forefinger. "I will make sure that the element decays as fast as possible…"

Loki just sent him a soft look. "Do not blame yourself, Mr. Holmes. If everyone who carried or was close to one of your weapons was possessed by _the Other_ , we would be crawling with psychopathic S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel by now. Director Fury was close to the portal, so the link might as well have been established already during the beginning of this mess. I do not know, though, why he is acting upon it only now. But I hope this is something I will find out during this interrogation."

"And why was Hill affected? She was nowhere near us when the portal opened." It was Natasha who asked that, not quite sure if it was a good idea to let Loki near Fury… or… _the Other_ as the Demigod kept calling him.

Loki just cocked his head. "This is also something I aim to find out. You." He pointed at the man from S.H.I.E.L.D. who was still keeping himself in the background.

"The conference will start any minute now, the Lady Pepper and my brother will inform you about our future plans. I suppose it would be wise for you to attend it, so that at least one of your company's leaders is up to date."

To be honest, he had expected at least some resistance from the man to leave, however, he happily left the room, obviously glad he did not have to deal with his gone-mad superior.

"You will not…", Natasha piped up as soon as #2 was out of the room, only to be interrupted by the Demigod.

"I will attempt not to harm your director. I, however, will not forego defending myself should it be necessary. And do not give too much credit to what _the Other_ is saying. He is a creature of violence, trained to hurt, only to please his master. Maybe you should also leave, Mr. Holmes." Anthony had only hinted at the troubled past of the young man, but what he would hear from _the Other_ , trying to intimidate, to threaten the Demigod who had escaped his clutches could very well stir up unwelcome memories.

Gabriel actually weighted his options for a few seconds, after all it had been made pretty clear that Loki had not been partaking in the entire invasion scenario voluntarily, but that he had been forced. On the other hand, he somehow felt responsible for what had happened the day before and today (he dared not calling it overwhelming guilt, yet), even though he did not really know if it was the synthesized element that allowed this entity from another realm to occupy his former boss' mind.

He also was no stranger to violence…

So he waved off. "I just want to know how we get rid of him. How is Mr. Stark?"

The other people in the room only realized now that they had not asked about the inventor, curious eyes wandering to the Demigod.

"He is as well as he can be, his breastbone is bruised nastily, maybe even cracked, and he bit his tongue. Dr. Hunt put him on pain medication. He is sleeping now", Loki informed them, glaring at the young man as he prepared for another question. Gabriel shut his mouth instantly.

Of course he had realized that Loki's dark purple grazes were gone.

A hand on his arm stopped Loki as he turned towards the door leading to the cell, stopping him from entering. He had expected Fandral to add something more, even though he could not come up with anything the other God might want to advice here, only to find Agent Barton holding onto him.

"Maybe you should change into something more… intimidating?" The archer bit his tongue as a jokingly _boss_ wanted to slip out, join the words that informed the Demigod that he was standing here in some very nice looking leather shoes and simple black dress pants, and a white button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He tried to wreck his brain whether he had ever seen the God look so casual, so… well, not relaxed, if you looked really hard you could see that he was tense, but… at ease, somehow.

The armor, or even the suit he had worn in Stuttgart would make more of an impression, though, when trying to threat an alien being that occupied the mind of a man who could order around a heavily weaponized helicarrier.

Loki knew all of this, and yet, he was asking himself why he should even make the effort threatening _the Other_. Without a portal, they could not reach Midgard, and in the moment he felt like crossing that river when he reached the bridge. He was simply wondering why the other being made such an effort for hunting one single man.

"It will suffice, Agent Barton. I do not think that _the Other_ will reside for much longer. It must strain his powers to maintain contact over such a long distance." Barton's hand stayed for another moment on his forearm before he let go after slightly squeezing, and winking at the Demigod.

"Well, it's your funeral, boss."

Loki's slightly astonished look followed the archer that just smirked and then moved to the back of the room, producing a chair no-one had even noticed before to sit down. Not that Romanoff's look was any less surprised, even though she quickly schooled it back to indifferent.

"Do I have to look out for pranks being played on me in the near future?" he asked, getting a snort out of the redhead spy.

"Everybody has to look out for that. To be honest, I expected something that would blow up in your face already yesterday."

Barton huffed. "Only if someone also blows me up. C'mon, I'm not that dense, we're mind-control buddies, somehow. So, you going to figure out what Pinocchio in there is planning, or what?"

Gabriel threw all of them a side-glance, wanting to reply that the puppet never was an actual marionette. He decided against it, though, and turned back to the one-way mirror. Fury was still watching the glass, unmoving. J.A.R.V.I.S. did not have scanners in there, just regular recording systems.

The Demigod sent the archer another look. "Pinocchio? No, let me guess, this is yet another movie I need to watch?"

* * *

The remaining eye of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s director immediately focused on the opening door, a smirk playing around his lips as Loki entered the room, sitting down on the opposite site of the table, leaning back and watching the retrained man.

"So, my dear Godling, have you finally decided to come back to me? Do not think this will lessen your punishment in any way."

Loki simply watched him, taking in the other man's appearance. Fury was sweating, his skin had an unhealthy hue, all of his muscles tense, even though he was not fighting against the shackles confining him. Obviously, _the Other_ had not thought about nourishing his puppet properly, or learned how to control his body.

The other man's look changed to irritated when Loki did not answer.

"It will be my pleasure to personally carry out your punishment. The Chitauri were very good at examining what you can stand, what you can heal. Yet they did not manage to break you. It took me, digging around in your memories to break you. Tell me, young Godling, were you as unwilling when the blonde beau out there took you? The memory of your Vanir friend was very helpful, he is a master in inflicting maximum pain for his own pleasure."

Loki simply raised an eyebrow. Of course it was embarrassing, but he had expected _the Other_ to bring this up. The people on the other side of the mirror, except for Mr. Holmes, most probably, were not new to the horrors of war and torture, and to what means some people resorted to get what they wanted.

"Maybe I will also entertain myself with the images of your family again. Shall I start with choking your wife? Or shall I begin with your toddlers? Those cute little boys. So tiny, such fragile necks, screaming for their Papa for help. Shall I let you mourn them? Shall I take your mind again and make _you_ murder them?"

The human's body started shaking with the effort of standing up, straining against the cuffs around his wrists and ankles, seemingly wanting to throw himself at the calm God sitting on the opposite side. Loki still had not said a word, let _the Other_ rage with creative methods to torture him.

None of them were new.

Been there, done that. It took no effort to keep a calm attire.

"I will capture you. You cannot escape me. You will pay for your betrayal, I will make you suffer every nightmare that ever befell you and more…"

Fury was wheezing by now, the crazy, blue eye still trained at the Demigod who now shifted in his chair, careful to keep out of the other man's reach.

"Does your master even know yet that you have failed?" he then said in a soft voice, and Fury was growling.

"Because it was _you_ who has failed. You were so sure about your hold on me, _you_ gave me an entire army and never doubted my loyalty. You were so convinced that no human being might rise to defend their planet, their race so unimportant and underdeveloped, that you never realized my deception. You. It is you that has failed. You failed your master. And you are desperate, desperate to present a scapegoat before he bestows the inevitable punishment for this failure on you."

 _The Other_ was still raging, using the mortal body to its limits, scowling at the Demigod.

"I will find you! I will make you suffer! I will…"

Loki just waved him off.

"I know, I know. You will fail again though, should your master not decide to end your miserable life. You live under the illusion that there is anything left you can take from me. I lived all of my nightmares, multiple times while you were _convincing_ me to lead the invasion. The only thing I have left for you to take is my life. I am free of you. I am free. You, on the other hand, are a dead man. Is it not strenuous, to keep a connection over such a long distance? Would your powers not be more useful in saving yourself?" Loki asked, once more cocking his head, throwing the other man an almost-smirk. "HE is not a generous master, after all", he then added.

Cuffed hands balled to fists on the table, the mortal's body sagging onto the chair, still growling.

"It is draining you, is it not? These humans are so incredibly resourceful, creating shards of the tesseract, and yet you saw nothing more than monkeys, low lifeforms that warranted extinction simply by existence. The shards are fading, are they not? Can you still speak? Did you exhaust this human enough? Their bodies appear weak, yet they have remarkable reserves of strength. Their minds, I learned, are just as remarkable. Does your pet Director fight? Is it hard to keep him at bay?"

"I… will simply find… the next shard…" _the Other_ panted, one mad blue eye flickering to dark brown, briefly, before the mad look was directed once more at the Demigod.

Loki, who had never raised his voice in the past minutes of taunting the other being, still wore a soft expression.

"Oh, but there are no shards left. Self-destruct buttons are a very useful invention. And you are stuck, on this lifeless rock, in the middle of nowhere, in a realm far, far away. And you will be the only one who will take the blame…"

The other man leaped up again, the color of the eye once more flickering, and Loki actually wanted to move his chair back now, in case that he would somehow manage to get out of the chains.

Then, suddenly, the mortal made an unexpected move to the side, throwing himself off balance and falling over, his head smashing against the corner of the metal table, effectively knocking himself out.

Loki once more raised an eyebrow, watching the unconscious human as he hung there, unconscious, awkwardly, since his hands were still cuffed to the table. Romanoff and Barton poured into the room, picking up the injured man, while the Demigod mused about the fact that Fury most probably took the first chance to get rid of the entity in his head by simply bashing it against something.

Resilient and defiant, those humans.

Thanos certainly had expected a bunch of underdeveloped monkeys when he set out to wipe them off their planet.

But then… it never hurt to be underestimated.

He waited for the commotion to die down around him, orders being yelled, medical personnel that was also taking care of Maria Hill coming for their director to take him away into the medical wing, before he let his emotions take over, stored away so deeply ever since _the Other_ had stumbled over the tortured creature that was his mind.

Sliding from his chair he fell to his knees, sitting on his calves, his arms hanging next to his body, limp, as he wept silently, allowed himself to finally mourn, for his wife, for the boys, for the God of Mischief who once had a not always easy, but pleasant life, only to lose, and lose, and lose, and be betrayed, and betrayed, and betrayed.

Strong arms went around him, and it was only Fandral's smell, leather, bergamot, and a slight tinge of mint, that kept him from striking out, defending himself as he was moved into the other God's embrace, one large hand coming to rest between his shoulders, the fingers of the other webbing through silken hair, cradling the back of his head as he buried it against the blonde God's shoulder, soaking the fine linen of his tunic.

"Please tell me that you do not believe what you said. You are but an empty shell, Loki. You fought to remove yourself from Thanos' clutches, you made friends here, and don't dare saying you did not. You never let any of us manhandle your name the way friend Stark does, yet you smile whenever he calls you Lokes. The Lady Pepper most probably gave me a permanent limp with her heel to reach her betrothed, but she did check on you as she rushed by. Maybe Sif might like a pair of those shoes."

That last sentence, it made Loki laugh under his tears, shaking against the other God.

"Those shoes are a symbol of utter feminity here on Midgard. She would not be pleased."

Fandral smiled softly as Loki looked up and wiped a hand over his face, embarrassed by letting go like this with a witness, yet...

"Oh, but we do not have to tell her this, do we?"

Both of them laughed, and Fandral leaned in to rest his forehead against Loki's, his hand still cradling the back of the other God's head.

"Þú ert ekki einn, kæri drengur minn."

Loki snorted.

"I will not sleep with you, Fandral, you can cease the flattering."

The blonde God just laughed, hugging him a little tighter.

* * *

At first, Tony did not know what woke him, until he registered and recognized the indistinguishable scent of peaches that made him open his eyes to the dimly lit room.

Pepper was leaning against the doorframe, wearing his hot-rod-red pajama tops and some leggings, simple black flats on her feet. Her head rested against the plastic of the frame, the door held ajar by her diminutive form.

"Hey", he croaked, and then cleared his throat. "How long have I been out?"

"It's past 10 p.m.… Owen let you sleep. There's a hairline fracture in your sternum, and some of the material that was used to fix the casing in place broke. It's stable enough in the moment, but he wants to discuss options tomorrow…", the strawberry blonde explained, folding her arms in front of her chest.

Tony simply made an hmm sound. He had expected something like that.

"How did the conference go?" he then asked, willing her to come closer, wanting to touch her, knowing how she once more was his anchor, grounding him, giving him a reason to not instantly panic.

"Well enough. Though, since there was no-one from S.H.I.E.L.D. brave enough to raise their voice it was pretty easy. We did not tell them yet that you cannot go to Asgard."

She did not have to tell him, to speak it out loud. Tony did not sigh, because that hurt. They would have to find another way, maybe hook their Æsir friends up with some J.A.R.V.I.S.-enhanced device… or send Bruce with them… There was a solution for everything.

"Fury?" he wanted to know next.

"Banged his head against a metal table as soon as he gained some control over _the Other._ Agent Romanoff is impressed by Loki's interrogation tactics, and it was really the wannabe-tesseracts that made it possible to obtain control over those people. Don't ask me how, though, I did not understand anything of Loki's theories. Mr. Holmes is making sure that there are no shards left and that they cannot re-synthesize it. They've been asking for you. I told them you're okay, and that they could pay you a visit tomorrow."

The man in the hospital bed watched his wife, as she stood there, unmoving.

"And you?" he asked then. Pepper shrugged.

"Had Lunch with a bunch of Asgardian Gods, the Hulk, Robin Hood and a genius that looks like a teenager. Talked to our world's leaders. Did some SI work in the afternoon. Had Dinner with the same bunch of people." She paused briefly, letting her eyes linger on the engineer.

"Worried myself crazy over my husband…", she then silently added.

Tony watched her for a while, standing there, her eyes trained on him, to anyone who did not know her she would seem calm and calculating. He knew she was on the verge of breaking down, hiding herself away in their bedroom and crying herself to sleep.

"C'mere", he said, lifting the arm that was not attached to the IV with the pain medication, a smile making it to his face when after some seconds she moved away from the doorsill, the door closing behind her as she also reached out, grasping his hand. Tony tugged at her.

"C'mon, we made do with less space than a mingy hospital bed."

It made her laugh, actually laugh, as she shuffled out of her shoes and climbed onto the bed, turning to her side and resting her head against his shoulder, always careful to not put pressure on anything that might hurt, she did not even allow him to lift his arm to tug it under her head, but effectively trapped it against her body, hugging it, instead of the man.

"No, we didn't. We always have humongous beds, bathtubs, office desks, kitchen counters…"

"The couch in the jet is smaller than this." Turning his head, he leaned his cheek against the top of her head.

"We never made it to the couch, Tony…"

The engineer turned his head a bit more, kissing her hair.

"Yeah, we didn't. Can you stay here tonight?

She nodded against his arm, trying to shuffle closer as she rearranged the blanket around them. Tony yawned.

"Ya know, Thor's bestie's Robin Hood. Our friend with the affinity to a longbow's Legolas", he then joked, squeezing her hand that had found his.

"I don't care. You would've loved Dinner. Clint's adopted Gabriel, I obviously gave an Asgardian God a limp with my Valentino stilettos, and they are marathoning Robin Hood movies since the afternoon, because Clint _and_ Gabriel both wanted to watch _Men in tights,_ and then decided that Thor, Fandral and Loki lacked basic information to get the jokes. They started with Errol Flynn, and Thor is teasing Fandral since then. They were almost done with Kevin Costner when I left."

Tony chuckled. "I knew you were lethal in those shoes. J, switch off the lights, please… jeeze, I slept the entire day and am still beat… Night, Mrs. Stark."

She answered with a probably too good natured "Good night, Mr. Stark", nuzzling against his shoulder. Only when his breathing had evened out, telling her that he was indeed asleep again, she allowed the first silent tear to fall.


	17. Jungle

**_Chapter 17: Jungle_**

 _Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly. But the bumble bee doesn't know it, so it goes on flying anyway. (Mary Kay Ash)_

* * *

Virginia Stark, née Potts, always proclaimed she was a morning person, somebody who rose easily, who was not grumpy, who could tolerate people talking a mile a minute while she was eating her breakfast and having her first cup of coffee.

She had gotten very good at hiding the fact that she'd rather roll over in bed when the alarm clock went off at fuck-no in the morning, or when J.A.R.V.I.S. informed her at stupid-o'clock in the night that Tony needed something he thought only she could provide, had to be bailed out of prison for… driving too fast, or drinking too much and losing his last control over his non-existent brain-to-mouth filter, or she had to kick out the bimbo of the night because Mr. Tony Stark couldn't be bothered to kick out his conquests personally.

While most of these things had changed after Afghanistan (the speeding tickets still cost a fortune, though), she was still up early, most of the time leaving the bed before Tony even thought about rising, and she was grateful for his inability to talk in full sentences until he had his second cup of coffee. It gave her time to reach a mindset were she was no longer grumpy about the fact that she had to leave the warm bed, the pliant body next to her in order to face the crazy that came with her job and her life as Tony Stark's right hand.

She had heard subdued voices for some time now, still lacing her fingers with the hand that was attached to the arm she was hugging, burying her nose against a firm shoulder. It was not J.A.R.V.I.S. that was talking, but she knew the voice, so she tried opening her eyes, only to be greeted with the profile of Winston Hibler who was pointedly not looking into her direction.

Wonderful. She did not know why Tony had decided that it was a good time to have his lawyer over here at a time when she was still sleeping. To be honest, she was not even sure if Winston still _was_ his lawyer. While most of the time they relied on the SI legal department, Tony chose to talk to him when it concerned personal matters, maybe as one last reminder of the family he had lost, after all, Winston had already been Howard's attorney. The old man reminded her of Georges Hautecourt, and she dearly hoped she would not end up dancing with him to the Habanera like a younger and hotter version of Adelaide Bonfamille at some point.

Winston was quite agitated, though, and when Pepper heard the word _pre-nup_ hissed for the fifth time in a row, as if the older man was actually scolding Tony for the lack of one, she chose to lift her head, vaguely aware that her hair most probably did look like she'd just rolled out of bed, and unlaced her fingers from Tony's hand to rub her eyes.

"Win, she was already inheriting all of my stuff in the last version of my will, do you really think our marriage will change that? I called you to update this stupid document and to include our future children, not to be sermon-ed about how I could lose half of my money and my company. Half of my money is still more than what the second-richest person on Earth has, so stop fainting already!"

Tony obviously was not amused, his jaw set, a grim gaze directed at the lawyer. Before the aforementioned lack of brain-to-mouth filter could do any damage on this long-lasting friendship, Pepper chose to speak up, though.

"You know, actually he's right… we did make everyone, even Thor, sign non-disclosure contracts on what they've seen and witnessed, and in the few days since your proposal we did not think of a pre-nup. It's somewhat careless, what if I chose to divorce you right now and take everything you have?" Her voice was still hoarse from sleep, her hair was a mess, and she had to squint to see Tony's exasperated face.

"Good God, I married an accountant… of course you would be on his side!" he exclaimed, making both Winston and Pepper laugh. Tony laughed, too, but his face soon contorted with the pain it brought in his chest, worrying both other people in the room.

"'m fine… just don't make me laugh… If it's so important, just put up a contract, and we'll sign it. We both know I won't cheat on you, and if I manage to drive you away enough to warrant a divorce, I deserve everything that comes with it…" He said this with his shit-eating smile mask on, making not only Pepper regret even mentioning this stupid paperwork. She just leaned her forehead against his shoulder again.

"You won't", she then said. She had already witnessed him at his worst, she had fallen for him during that time when life was anything but fairytales and unicorns for them. "I am just surprised that you asked Mr. Hibler to come."

Tony shrugged, once more wincing as his bones protested against the movement.

"They'll have to fix the casing, and most probably I'll undergo cardiothoracic surgery rather sooner than later. I just wanted to fix everything before, you know…" he wanted to shrug again but decided against it.

She wanted to tell him that she did not want to talk about it, about the possibility that he might not wake up. Instead she sat up straighter in bed, not caring that she still had pillow creases in her face, that her hair was all over the place and that the top buttons of _his_ pajama tops had somehow opened, to catch his face with one hand, bringing his forehead against his.

"It's the reasonable thing to do", she then said, forcing down every thought that would even touch the possibility of Tony dying. This was something that would not happen. Terrorists and heavy metal poisoning had not brought him down, aliens and a corrupt to the bone secret agency did not manage, so something as simple as a weak heart would not kill him.

"Dear Lord, I feel like an adult…", the engineer joked, his tone not as light as he wanted it to be. They were in denial, both of them, wanting to see him as some indestructible person, because it was easier. But he would not have to live with the pain, if… if…

"Alright, what do you say, I will take care of the will and have it ready for you to sign by tomorrow, and the rest we can figure out when you're better?" Winston piped up, finally registering the reason of why he was here. The old man stood up from his chair, smoothing down his suit as if he could do anything against the wrinkles it got by only being worn. He was a firm believer in wearing a Stresemann during the day, making sure to have no appointments around five p.m. to be able to switch to a Cut, or into comfortable casual wear, after all, he was retired for more than a decade now, and only doing his former employer's son the favor of regulating his personal things.

Tony turned his head to face the other man again, reaching out his right hand, careful not to pull on the hoses attached to him and Winston shook it carefully.

"I am a bit miffed that I was not invited to the wedding", the old man said then, pointedly also looking at Pepper.

"I expect to be invited to the baby shower", he then said, before saying his goodbyes and leaving the room. Pepper sent her husband a glance.

"Did you tell him about cell… Junior?"

The engineer was still watching the door through which the lawyer had left. "Uh… no. I just wanted to include my wife and future children into my will… and make sure that also your family and Bruce and Loki are cared for… if… if anything goes wrong… do you think I should leave all my weaponry blueprints to Gabriel? He's the only one I can come up with who will actually be able to use them against Thanos and not just sell them to the highest bidder…"

Pepper really did not want to talk about this. "Maybe we should wait and see what Owen's colleagues have to say before… before…"

Tony nodded, cradling her head against his shoulder once more.

Owen found them like this, his brother-in-law not having moved much since they had placed him in this bed. The surgeon had slept in medical and checked up on the inventor regularly, at some point finding his sister who had cried herself to sleep right next to her husband, and he didn't have the heart to throw her out. He had stabilized the casing as well as he could, and he was glad to see that she went nowhere near Tony's chest.

He decided to let her stay there until his next round, well, until J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him that he was constantly monitoring his creator and would inform him if his status changed. The artificial intelligence had also asked him to let Mrs. Stark stay the night, as _Sir_ always slept best with his significant other in his arms, the constant contact and familiar scent keeping the aftermath of Afghanistan at bay.

It made the surgeon shudder, even though he did not really know what had happened when Stark had been kidnapped. He assumed though, that it wasn't a tea party the inventor had been invited to and thought back to his own struggles, to this one horrific night when…

Finding them cuddled up in the hospital bed, Tony caressing Ginny's hair and tilting his head as far as he could to kiss her forehead was definitely a better coping mechanism than strangling his bed-companion in a haze.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked, glancing at the monitors attached to the inventor, glad to see that everything seemed fine so far.

"Like somebody tried to break my chest and the good drugs are slowly wearing off. I was wondering whether I could go up to the Penthouse while we're waiting for your friends to come here… the scanners are better, and the bed or even the couch are more comfy than this lumpy thing here", the engineer answered.

Deep-blue eyes looked at him, contemplating the question, contemplating what the surgeon knew about the other man.

"How long will you nag me if I say no?" Owen asked, while Virginia was whispering to Tony, asking him if he really thought this was a good idea.

"I'll bug you as long as necessary, and yes, I think it is a good idea, Peps. I will go stir crazy in here, we need to come up with a plan what to do next with the entire Loki-goes-back-to-Asgard-situation… and it smells like hospital … I can go on for hours like this, and if you're not looking I will break out anyway, so just spare my poor heart the excitement, huh?"

Pepper actually snorted at that while Owen rolled his eyes.

"Only you! Only you would use your bum heart against us to _leave_ the hospital!" Pepper exclaimed, swatting his arm.

* * *

Loki once more woke on the couch in the living room, his foggy mind trying to come up with a reason for the fact that his head was pillowed on Fandral's thigh and he was drooling onto the soft leather of his pants, while the blonde God was leaning against Thor, snoring softly.

Sitting up he used the heels of his hands to rub his eyes, recalling the previous evening. Agent Barton had been teasing Fandral with the name Robin Hood for quite some time until the God gave in, asking who this Robin Hood was. What followed were trials to explain the medieval thief, before Barton and Gabriel started reciting every movie they had ever seen concerning this person.

Loki remembered sighing. Obviously, humans made movies out of every tale… but then, this was definitely not as redundant as having certain warriors reciting the same story for the umpteenth time. At some point Barton simply exclaimed: "Movie Marathon!" before jumping onto the couch and starting to negotiate with J.A.R.V.I.S. and Gabriel which movies to watch before they started on the parody they actually wanted to see.

The Lady Pepper had interrupted them for Dinner after the first movie which clearly demonstrated why every human was associating Fandral with that Robin Hood person. They had already shared lunch, and she had assured them that Anthony was as well as he could be, and still asleep.

Gabriel had expressed the wish to visit the engineer, and also Loki found that he wanted to go there, see Anthony with his own eyes, and figure out if maybe he could do something. Lady Pepper had asked them to be patient, to let him rest, and that they could visit him the next day.

She had joined them for the first part of the next movie they watched, something that Barton called a _Hollywood blockbuster_ , and the woman was humming along with some of the tunes. It was a dark tale, darker than the one they had seen of the same story, and while Robin Hood this time did not share Fandral's features, it was a heroic story, including tragic figures, making the Asgardian Gods hang on the edges of their seats until it was over.

The Lady Pepper had left them by then, disappearing before the scene with Little John's wife giving birth, reminding Loki once more of her situation, and how she must be feeling with her spouse severely hurt and everything else once more in the air.

She reappeared a little later in her sleeping attire, wishing all of them a good night as she took the elevator down to the medical level. The God of Mischief leaned back on the couch, having half an eye on the movie, while he was watching his brother and his friend. Thor was shoving handfuls of popcorn into his mouth without even realizing it.

Fandral had abandoned his bowl, his elbows resting on his knees, clearly still having problems with the concept of movies. While Loki up to now had only seen animated ones, the idea of actors and a whole industry behind it to make what Mr. Holmes had called special effects was fascinating. The humans had assured them that all of this was just that, acting, artificial blood and special effects, nobody was harmed, and the actors actually earned obscene amounts of money for their performance.

The actor in the parody they watched afterwards was very cliché, and while the Æsir did not get every reference (and Barton eventually made Banner, and subsequently J.A.R.V.I.S., as Banner refused, start on a list which other movies they would have to watch), they for sure knew enough to spend the rest of the evening in laughter, even more so when Gabriel mentioned how he loved the Disney version as a child, and of course, J.A.R.V.I.S. also could provide them with this movie.

He had fallen asleep somewhere during the beginning, even though the animal characters were cute, and only felt slightly embarrassed to have abused Fandral as a pillow. Letting his eyes wander through the room, the Demigod saw that Dr. Banner was the only one who had moved to his bedroom.

Gabriel was curled up on one of the chairs, his head resting on the armrest, and somebody had placed a blanket around him and put his glasses on the coffee table. Barton lay on the floor right in front of that chair, on the fluffy white carpet, on his back, with his hands underneath his head, snoring softly.

Stretching his limbs, Loki stood up and moved into the kitchen, quietly asking J.A.R.V.I.S. to start the coffee before rummaging around in the cupboards, coming up with the not-so-secret stash of pop-tarts Tony had ordered for Thor, and some granola and milk for himself. Putting two of the tarts into the toaster according to the AI's instructions he started munching on his own breakfast, leaning against the counter right next to the coffee maker.

It took him a while to realize that this was normally Anthony's spot.

The sound of the elevator doors and the engineer's voice ripped him out of his musings only seconds later.

"Jarv, I hope you've got some pictures of this pajama party!"

It sounded amused, yet somewhat strained, and the view of Anthony walking towards his living room like an old man, slowly, slightly hunched over, made his heart clench. The Lady Pepper was following him, just as Dr. Hunt, and Thor and Fandral who had woken with the first words that were spoken, moved off the couch for the inventor to sit down, having both Hunt and his wife fuss over him, putting his legs up to the cushions.

"We'd have to wear pajamas for this to be a pajama party. 'm still in my cargos, you know", Barton piped up, his blonde tuft appearing over the coffee table as he sat up and watched the two Gods stretch their muscles before grabbing the glasses off the coffee table and turning to the heap of blankets on the chair next to him.

"Hey, Gabe, good morning. I've got your glasses here."

The answer was something mumbled that Loki did not understand, but a hand reached out from the warm cocoon, accepting the glasses and putting them on, the young man also sitting up now.

"Thank you. And good morning… Oh, Mr. Stark… are you sure you should be up here?"

Tony just smiled, stealing another kiss from Pepper before he shooed her away to get him some coffee and something to eat for herself, throwing a short look at Owen if that was okay.

The doctor just shrugged as he stuffed some pillows behind the other man's back. "I won't keep you from eating and drinking as long as you're not in pain. The others should be here soon enough, just let us know if you need anything. And I mean _anything._ No trips on your own, okay?"

The engineer sighed. "I'll be a good boy. So, you had a movie night?"

Barton, who was still sitting on the floor, watched Gabriel as he moved into the kitchen, asking for hot water, followed by two Asgardian Gods who smelt the toasting pop-tarts.

"Yeah. And it's just plain mean that you had J.A.R.V.I.S. block all the good movies."

"Pfft, I wanna be there and watch Loki when we show him _The Matrix_ or Star Wars or Star Trek… or… the Terminator… or the Die Hard series… or…"

Barton groaned, plopping down to his lying position again. "Geez, just for that I'll have to take a job as your bodyguard now, I was watching _them_ more than the TV."

Tony wanted to tell him that he already had a bodyguard, but the archer got off the floor just then, rolling his shoulders until they cracked.

"You didn't answer Gabe's question. You sure you shouldn't better be down in medical?" Clint asked, sending the engineer a rather open worried look that made Tony frown. He knew that Romanoff was an excellent actress, but he didn't know Barton well enough to decide if his worry was genuine or false.

"My doc and J.A.R.V.I.S. approved it, and I guess it doesn't matter if I'm sitting around here or downstairs. But I've organized for a surprise for Thor, and I wanted to be there for that."

Loki was still following their conversation, his eyebrow rising as Barton just continued looking at Tony before he started to smile. Thor was introducing Fandral to the wonders that were pop-tarts (and toasters, since he was already at it), oblivious that he had become the topic of a conversation, whatever it may be that Anthony had arranged.

"Oh, yeah, I can totally understand that. J-dog, make sure to take pictures!"

Tony snorted at that, especially when J.A.R.V.I.S. affirmed the request, and greedily reached out for his cup of coffee that was presented to him by Pepper who was sitting down next to him, pulling his feet in her lap before starting to drink hers. "You are way too familiar with my AI, Barton. ETA, Jarv?"

J.A.R.V.I.S. announced that Mr. Hogan had left the airport 45 minutes ago and was expected to arrive any minute now.

Barton grinned, blue eyes sparkling with mischief, reminding Loki that this was why he had been drawn to the other man. Contrary to the God of Mischief, though, the mortal was a cheerful soul, prone to pranks and jokes and good-natured banter.

"Hehe, I need some coffee, don't start without me!"

* * *

Elevators, or rather, sharing a ride in an elevator with people you did not know always was a peculiar thing. One never knew what to say, especially on longer rides, and even if there was one familiar person, people rarely talked when not alone with them.

Cristina Yang knew everything about awkward elevator rides. They started the day she got to know Meredith Grey, and somehow they never stopped since then. She had been in an elevator when Owen's call had reached her, his name on her cellphone having become a sparsity in the course of the past 6 years when she had decided to leave Seattle, to leave her friends, her hospital, and the love of her life for her own egoistic need to prove something to herself.

She had proven everything she ever could think of, hell, Harper Avery prizes were piling up in her roomy office in Zurich (well, actually, there were two, so they were hardly piling, but she got lucky two times in a row, and except for Ellis Grey there were no other people who managed that), and while it did satisfy her that she had won what her friends most probably would never achieve, while she never would trade her competitiveness for anything in the world, this character trait also was what made her discontented, restless, thriving for the next challenge.

It had made her lonely, longing for what she had left behind.

She had been surprised by the calls, especially since most would have reached her late at night had she been in Zurich, and only then she realized that she had switched on her cellphone when she left the plane at the Baltimore/Washington International Airport, glad that it would be another week until she had to board one again, but had not checked her messages until she reached her hotel.

What would warrant 32 calls in the past eight hours? 12 text messages? Fumbling with her luggage she had answered the call, deliberately wanting to ask him exactly this without even greeting him.

She was met by the words "How fast can you be in New York?!" and the urgency in his tone made her drop all her usual recalcitrance, made her forget about her plans on actually, for once, doing some sightseeing, having a few free days, before charming the pants off the application committee at Johns Hopkins that she was the right person to head their cardiothoracic department, that she still had visions after being gifted with 50 (ok, 49 working, they never learned what killed number 50) 3D printers, that she was not simply tired of all the paperwork that came with her position, keeping her out of the OR more and more and she was dreading to see her nightmare come true and her assistant would do all the cool stuff, while she was buried in mountains of paperwork.

Zurich and printing hearts had lost its appeal somehow. They were at the valves now, starting on muscle, but it would be decades until they could implement that, until they would reach something functional, and while the valves were mechanical parts that also could be replaced by xenografts or even artificial constructs, muscles and nerves were another story that needed different scientists that understood the micro-engineering of these viable parts. People used to have such a romantic view of science – nobody ever recognized the years and frustration that preceded a breakthrough… and she was tired of playing administration to the scientists supposed to make it.

She wanted back into her OR, the bloodier the better, without having to think about how to make a myosin-chain align in the correct way.

Owen explained something that contained the words _sister_ , _brother-in-law_ , _shrapnel close to the heart,_ _fractured sternum_ , and _I NEED YOUR HELP,_ while she had already pushed the button that would bring her back down to the lobby, the couple that shared the cabin with her sending her a weird look, and she was briefly wondering why after all this time his voice still managed to make her heart beat a tad faster. How his laugh as she, stroppy as always, explained to the concierge that yes, she only checked in three minutes ago, she does not care that it is in the middle of the night, and now she needs to check out and the next train connection to NY, and something to write on, because she also needs an address where to go after she arrived there, made her lips curl up involuntarily.

She had to remind herself that he was married with a child, his dream had come true, and so had hers, at least career-wise to some point, and that her heart and her lips had no right to react in this way. Still, she was hightailing out of her well-earned vacation not really caring if it was really a life-threatening injury she would be dealing with or just plucking a few shards of metal out of a chest.

She never knew she would be this eager to meet him ever again. She's not quite sure if she could handle it.

She did double check the address after arriving in front of Stark Tower, the taxi driver waving her off as she wanted to pay him, telling her that Mr. Stark had already taken care of it. The two women that exited the limousine which stopped right in front of the main entrance did not even blip up on her radar by then, and only when she entered the elevator, she realized that yes, those two were entering the building with her, and some mousy receptionist told them with a shaky voice that Mr. Stark was waiting for them in the Penthouse, and guided them to the private elevator.

The plain, skinny brunette did not even look at her, staring at the numbers that lit up on their way up. The busty brunette with the red wooly hat and a green scarf at least smiled at her, nodding a greeting, and got a smile in return, before bouncing back and forth on her feet that were clad in heeled boots.

"C'mon, Jane, cheer up! You're gonna see him again, finally! You've been pining for him for the past two years!"

The woman who was obviously Jane hissed an embarrassed "Darcy!" before returning to stare at the display again, obviously not in the mood for talking.

Darcy simply shrugged. "Fine. Be moody. Why give him the benefit of doubt and be nice?"

"He said he'd be right back, and two years later I have to see him on TV to figure out he's there", was the pissy answer, Jane never removing her glance from the numbers counting up.

Darcy sighed. "Yeah, and I bet he had a good reason. It's not like they have phones where he comes from to let you know he'd be a bit late."

Jane just huffed, obviously not in any mindset to talk to her companion, and Cristina had to muster up all her acting qualities to not chuckle. Darcy actually grinned at the surgeon, then.

"And you? Did you also get a call in the middle of the night that no one else but Tony Stark would pay for a first class ticket to New York to meet the God of Thunder?"

Cristina smiled at the girl, one of the rare exceptions of people who tried to make conversation in a lift cabin. The _God of Thunder_ comment explained the Non-disclosure she'd had to sign at the reception.

"He paid for a train ticket and the cab, and I am here to meet my ex-husband", she replied, getting at least one curious glance and another huff before the cabin came to a halt, opening to some vast space.

Somebody announced them but Cristina could not really make out who and where that person was, as Darcy squealed and hightailed out of the elevator, jumping a rather huge, slightly (completely) surprised blonde in a golden… shirt? Armor? The arms of his shirt looked like they were made of metal. And he wore skin-tight leather pants. Alright.

She stepped out of the cabin, seeing a bunch of people gathered in an area that most probably was designed as the living room, given the humongous TV set and the couch, curiously looking at the young woman and the blonde giant she was hugging, her legs closed around his middle.

Jane also left the elevator, walking up to the blonde who held Darcy around her waist, smiling as he greeted her back before gently setting her down on her own feet, pulling her hat of her head in the same movement and holding it out of her reach. Another squeal, and another laugh mingled with the voices of the other people in the room who were following the scene of the God of Thunder and newly assigned All-father greeting the woman who tasered him during their first meeting in a thunderstorm.

She quickly disentangled from Thor when his gaze left hers, straying to Jane who was slowly approaching them. Another squeal followed as Darcy greeted another blonde God, who was smiling just as softly as the Thunderer had, elated by the enthusiasm he was shown by the girl.

Loki's head snapped to the living room as a slap echoed through the Penthouse, efficiently shutting up everyone. The Demigod and Gabriel had chosen to stay in the kitchen, the young man mostly to watch his tea steep through heavily lidded eyes, trying to smooth down his wrinkled clothes and his hair sticking out into every possible direction resulting from sleeping on a chair. He would have to leave for buying some clothes, because the rest of his stuff was still at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base in Washington where he had been stationed.

The only thing he really valued were his computers, and he had brought them, so whatever suits were still in D.C. could just stay there, rotting in pieces.

They both glared at the tiny woman who had dared slapping the God of Thunder, actually raising her hand for doing so a second time, but now Thor just caught her wrist, gently stepping into her personal space, looking at her with his baby-blues, rendering her speechless for about seven seconds.

"You promised you would be back right away!" she whispered as his lips touched her knuckles, before she was distracted by the blonde guy who she had already met in New Mexico, working with Coulson, who made a kissy-face at Thor and had both Fandral and Darcy laughing. Thor just turned his head, watching how also Tony and the Lady Pepper were struggling to veil their laughter behind their cups of coffee, before he addressed Agent Barton.

"Friend Clinton, you appear to wish being instead of mine, holding the fair Lady's hand."

Barton only snorted. "She just smacked you, dude, and even went for a round two, I'd rather stay out of range."

Jane blushed at that, knowing that her impulsiveness had gotten in her way more than once, but that was what happened when you tried to stand your ground in a field where men were still thinking you were the secretary of some mad professor who could not be assed to take care of his own notes.

She spent more time to declare to the astrophysics world that she was _the_ mad professor and kept employing Darcy on every scratch of money she could find to keep track of her paperwork to be actually able to present her work.

"I know you couldn't call…, but…", she then said, ignoring the man from S.H.I.E.L.D., and turning back to the Thunder God.

"Things have been complicated, my Jane. But I am grateful that friend Tony has arranged for this surprise. I may not stay for long, but I will be here frequently, having found means to travel to Midgard again after the Bifrost has been destroyed."

The woman cringed at that. She had been pissed, and not even asked if there was a reason for his disappearance.

"Yeah, but you could have tried to, I don't know, send an inter-realm carrier pigeon or something. There was lots of binge drinking and group sex involved to get Jane out of sulking", Darcy piped up, causing not only another upheaval of laughter, but also a sharp glance from her employer and friend.

"Darcy!"

The young woman simply shrugged. "Okay, so it was only orgies, Jane doesn't do excessive drinking" she then said, smiling innocently through another high-pitched "Darcy!" and the laughter of the other people in the room until Tony, still confined to the couch and cuddled up into a heap of pillows, with his feet in the lap of his wife started coughing and begging them to stop, because laughing still _hurt_ , even though he had to admit that he found the girl hilarious _._

It made the room sober up a bit, but Loki had been looking out for the other person who had entered the Penthouse together with Thor's two biggest fangirls even before Jane had raised her hand for the second time against the God. The dark-haired woman was still standing at the doors of the elevator, scrutinizing the gathering in the living room, her dark eyes instantly zeroing in onto the man who would be her patient, before Dr. Hunt had even reached her to greet her and point out her newest victim.

The redhead was towering over her, almost one head taller, and he was also smiling at Barton's refusal to be anywhere close to Jane, but his ocean-blue eyes soon enough locked onto the dainty woman in front of him who let go of her luggage, almost unconsciously reaching out for him, not even realizing that they had moved into each other's personal space without thinking twice.

 _Don't leave me until you're leaving me_ still hung in the air between them, their colorful history unknown to any observer, yet a blind man could see that this was more than simple friends re-uniting.

Owen's fingers curled around the handle of her suitcase, unsure what else to do with his hands, smiling at her. Cristina's hands fisted right next to her body.

"Thank you for coming…"

It got him a smile and a shove to the shoulder.

"I let you out of my eyes for five years and you end up as Tony Stark's brother-in-law. You will talk, Hunt, I want to know everything. Meredith is so busy with the drama that is her life, three kids, and the last thing I heard is that Karev finally ditched his assistant doctor and moved in with her again to sulk. Oh, and that you had to fire Derek's junkie sister. Switzerland is boring; I start to miss our catastrophes!"

"They're fuck-buddies now, or at least they believe it's nothing more, but you don't know that from me. Ellis just started talking and called him Dada, because he's around all the time, and he's so thrilled about it that he forgets denying he is thrilled all the time. And Amelia… she relapsed one too many times. Can you have a look at Tony before I show you the scans we have? Callie and the rest of the gang should arrive with Tony's jet, ETA, J.A.R.V.I.S.?"

The petite surgeon jumped, just as everybody else when the AI answered, still dutifully using the _notify strangers_ tone and told them that the Gulfstream was still waiting at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport due to the fact that the doctors at the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital were as busy as always and would not simply leave their patients to just anyone.

This just resulted in another index finger pushed into Owen's pectoral muscle. "You will tell me _everything!_ But first of all, get me a stethoscope, I actually didn't bring one for my job interview."

Tony had started coughing by now, clutching his chest, and the woman who, at least by hair color, must have been Owen's sister moved to kneel above him while the rest of the room went silent.

Loki's eyebrows rose to unknown heights when the female doctor started to smile.

"God, I missed this."

* * *

The man in front of her told her to call him Tony and offered her breakfast in the same breath that he used to negotiate taking off his shirt and the bandages only in the confines of his lab where he could also show her the 3D scans. Without the audience.

Cristina shrugged, accepted the offer for breakfast and watched Owen saunter into the kitchen as if he owned the place, where some L'Oréal add model character with cheekbones she would kill for was manning the coffee maker and the toaster, critically observing everything that happened.

She got some delicious coffee and a strawberry pop tart out of it (jealously ogled by Thor, because it was the last one, he had to go with Nutella, now), and that for sure was not the worst breakfast she'd ever had. Cristina did not cook, she could hardly be bothered to _own_ a coffee maker, the rest was what take out was for. This had never changed over the course of years. Owen liked cooking, so she let him do it. Coming to think of it, she missed home-cooked meals.

They were eating in the living room, with Owen's sister, who was named either Virginia or Pepper, depending who was addressing her, and, as she learned, being indeed Starks wife, and trying not to fuss too much over the engineer. She distantly remembered some TV stations going bonkers over the wedding also in Switzerland. They definitely made it to the evening news, and she briefly had been thinking that the world really was coming to an end, if a celebrity marriage made it to the top of the news, with all the financial debacle that was going on in Greece, and idiots blowing up any objects of cultural value they could find in Syria (next to killing their own people, but, well, what would you expect from idiots?).

Jane had lost her moody attire, swooning over the God of Thunder and after Owen had introduced her, when all the other people tried to introduce themselves, she once more proved that she had not changed that much.

"Guys, I kept naming my interns after the dwarfs in Snow White, or I simply numbered them, because I never could remember their names. I will learn your name if it is important enough." Which meant that she would remember Tony and Pepper. Blonde God #1 and #2 would be distinguished by the astrophysicist hanging on their arm or the lack thereof, respectively, and the other blonde guy appeared occupied with the boy who looked like a broom had exploded on his head and did not seem important enough.

Darcy. She would remember Darcy, because of her loose gab. The young woman had plopped down on one of the comfortable looking chairs once she had greeted both Gods appropriately and stolen blonde God #2's pop-tart by the time Tony had finished coughing and was turning back to his coffee, telling Pepper that he was alright.

"Gosh, Mr. Stark, thanks for bringing us here. Norway was getting really, really cold… and boring."

Tony smiled. "The name's Tony. And I'm glad to be of service, Miss…"

Darcy cocked her head at him, pursing full lips that were painted in dark red, green-brown eyes shaped like almonds, one of the few treats she had inherited from her mother's side that she did appreciate, sparkling with humor, and smiled back.

"Lewis. But please, just call me Darcy. Hey, my Mom always told me that she once worked for your Dad, as a secretary, in the 80ties, before I was born… but she was also telling me that this was the last time she spent all of our money for dope every other week, and that was also a lie, so…"

The engineer shrugged simultaneously with Darcy, and then contorted his face, because _ouch_. "Howard's preferred MO was hire and fire. Or rather, hire, fuck, and fire. It's possible that she was one brief interlude." While Pepper sent her husband a disapproving frown, Darcy just laughed, delighted by the thought that she finally had found someone who was just as direct and possessed the same level of sensitivity (read as: none) as she did.

"Wow, so I can finally tell people that my deadbeat of a Mom's biggest achievement was not choking to death on her own vomit, but choking on Howard Stark's dick", the girl answered, with a brazen smile that matched Tony's who earned himself a swat from Pepper when he started philosophizing if the former was not favorable to the latter.

Mr. Shampoo-add had joined them by then, sitting down right next to Pepper, handing her a bowl of granola and a spoon, gently taking the cup out of her hands to place it on the coffee table. He did not look as wrinkled as the rest of the obvious pajama party as he ran a hand through his silky black hair, not only getting an envious look from the young man in the kitchen, but also Cristina found it unfair that someone was able to wake up without a dozen tangles in their mop that needed untangling.

"And your name is?" she asked, before remembering that she had just declared that she would not remember any names anyway.

It got her a spock-esque raised eyebrow, and wow, those eyes were green. "What use would it be to tell you, Lady Cristina, if you are to forget it instantly?"

Cristina snorted rather unladylike before smiling at him. "I like you, L'Oréal", she grinned, before turning to Owen who had sat down on the armrest of the chair she was occupying, catching her ex-husband's amused expression as he watched Loki's frown.

"How come you always get the fun parts? And don't even dare to deny it, I read the case reports about the hypothermia boy, or the guy you cut out of the car, or the veteran with the one leg!"

"Jackson and Catherine Avery harping at me through every point of each of those surgeries was no fun, Cristina, and who knew that _both_ of them would be such awful nitpickers who think they own the place. I'm just glad that Richard didn't get his will in having Bailey on your spot in the board. She never liked me, and would have made things unnecessarily hard."

Cristina frowned at that and then reminded herself of all the times the other doctor had placed any of them in the metaphorical dog-house for weeks if they made a mistake.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing I left my spot to you, then. Who got Derek's, by the way?" she mouthed around her pop-tart, ignoring all the other people in the room who were listening in to their conversation.

"Meredith gave it to Karev. Bailey was spitting fire that day, as were Jackson and Catherine. Callie and I were having lots of fun, though. There's no-one like Alex when it comes to telling other people off. He called Catherine a hyena and Jackson a mollycoddle. She was sulking for three days. Avery's still only talking business with Alex." Owen shook his head and smiled when remembering the day the decision had been made.

"Oh, so Callie's still your work-wife? How's Sofia? Am I a bad Godmother for just sending gifts and calling every other week?" Maybe she should visit, now that she was in the States anyway.

"Uh… that's actually more than Robbins does since they've been divorced. Sofia and Zola are in the same class, wreaking havoc, little Bailey just started kindergarten, and Ellis is adoring Alex. My work-wife relationships got a little polyamorous of late, with Callie and April", he then grinned, having Cristina scrutinize him.

"Kepner", she said then, before leaning back in her chair to look at him. "Seriously, Kepner? But she's so… annoying and mousy and that voice and all that religious stuff, and…"

"And she is one hell of a trauma-surgeon, she's the only one next to me who can handle the ER when there's yet another catastrophe. The guy we cut out of the car? That's her merit, we would have left him to bleed out where the tunnel had collapsed. Kepner had the car transported to the hospital. She's changed after…", he swallowed, looking at his ex-wife. "After they lost their baby. Osteogenesis imperfecta, type II. She did two terms in Syria and Jordan with the army, and she and Jackson divorced."

Before Cristina could answer to that, a honey-smooth voice interrupted them, making them turn their heads to blonde God #2, a.k.a. Fandral who wore a more than curious expression.

"Now, this sounds really interesting. Would you care to explain this intriguing mortal concept of one or more _work-wives_?"

Most of the people in the room were chuckling at that. Tony laughed. And then coughed, curling around his knees as his chest flared with pain.

* * *

"Why didn't you tell me that you need more pain meds?" Owen was furious when he and Loki (the only two people the inventor would even let help getting him up from the sofa in the living room) sat Tony down on the couch in the lab, stuffing some pillows behind his back to stabilize his upper body.

Pepper had followed them silently, providing said pillows, while Cristina was taking her patient's pulse which actually was not racing as much as she thought it would.

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad is it?" Hunt asked, watching how the engineer tried to claw his fingers into the cushions, catching the Demigod's hand by chance, squeezing down hard.

"Fif-fifteen…" the brunette coughed, making Owen groan.

"Now's not the time for jokes, Tony", he grouched, while trying to get the man to take his shirt off. Like the day before, Tony was fighting tooth and nail against anyone who tried to get near his chest.

"He is not joking", a quiet voice said behind them, the doctors and the God only now realizing that Pepper was still in the room, wide blue eyes capturing Tony's frightened gaze. "He would not let you know if it was a simple ten. Will you please get Dr. Yang a stethoscope, Owen? I will take care of the shirt."

The trauma surgeon nodded, getting off his knees before navigating through the numerous machines, unfinished inventions, and various armors on display. Pepper had moved around Loki by then, sitting down on the edge of the couch in the narrow space between the God and her husband, whispering, kissing, caressing… shaking his head he tore himself away from this display of affection, to rush to the medical floor. Stethoscope. And drugs. The rest they would see.

By the time he came back, the Demigod had moved behind the couch, giving Cristina room next to the engineer. Ginny was removing the bandages by now, talking to Tony soothingly, and her brother was not really sure if he wanted to hear what she had to say.

"We're in your lab."

"In New York", the engineer continued, looking at her. "No Obie…"

Her hand reached up to caress his cheek. "No Obie. Never ever again Obie. I grilled that fucker."

Tony answered with a humorless snort. "I was doing the heavy lifting. I'm pretty sure I did…"

"Yeah? I ruined my satin Louboutins while overcharging the reactor and trying to get out in one piece when it exploded. That was more than just 12% of the work in killing that asshole… and I probably should not have said that out loud", the redhead muttered, throwing a glance at her brother who was stepping up next to her with an IV bag and the stethoscope which he handed to Cristina.

"Okay… I will pretend that I did not hear the last sentence, but I guess this Obie person has something to do with you not letting anyone near your chest", Owen asked his brother-in-law while he was trying to remember if this weird machine with the metal claw had been standing already next to the couch when he had left the lab.

"He was my business partner… ordered the attack on me in Afghanistan, tried to kick me out of my own company, sold my weapons to anyone who was willing to buy them, and then tried to kill me again by paralyzing me and taking the reactor out before unleashing the Iron Monger on the town… had to stop him somehow…" Pepper had finished unwrapping him by now, revealing the heavily bruised skin around the blue glow of the miniaturized Arc reactor.

Loki stifled a gasp. The day before he had only managed to get brief glimpses while Dr. Hunt had also been treating him on the medical floor, and Anthony had hidden it as soon as possible. Only now he could see the clotted blood around the rim of the casing, the scars that circled the blue ring in elaborate patterns in detail. The device that sat exactly at the place where he had touched Anthony with the scepter…

Cristina simply hummed, as if this was something she saw every day, before putting the ends of the stethoscope in her ears. "I will listen to your heart now. Tell me when I'm coming too close for comfort or when it hurts. Your sternum was fractured?"

"Uhm… yes, Owen said there was a hair-fracture. J.A.R.V.I.S., pull up the scans. May-maybe also a real-time scan of the heart and the-the shrapnel. DUM-E, you're in Owen's way, help U clean MARK VII." The inventor held Pepper's hand in a white-knuckled grip, not looking at the cardiologist as she moved the cold disk about his skin.

The machine next to them just beeped in an offended tone, but didn't move a millimeter. Tony sighed.

"Daddy's going to be fine, DUM-E. At least make yourself useful and hold the IV-bag or something, okay?"

While Cristina continued to examine Tony and Owen fixed him up on some new pain medication, Pepper tried to get out of the way, but her husband wouldn't loosen his grip. J.A.R.V.I.S. projected the scans his creator had requested in the area where the holographic tables were located.

U had stopped cleaning the armor and also wheeled over to the couch, nudging closely to Loki, directing his camera towards Tony.

The beep the machine made sounded so sad that the Demigod rested his hand on its head without really thinking about why he was trying to comfort a robot.

After a few minutes, Cristina made another hmmm, before leaning back.

"Alright. Heart sounds good. Calmer than I expected. You should sue the surgeon who put the casing in there, though. What did he use? A rusty spoon?"

Tony tried to keep still while Owen hooked him up to the drip and looked skeptically at the doctor.

"I don't actually know what medical equipment they had in that cave, and he was a physicist", he said then, and while Pepper squeezed his hand, and Loki stifled another gasp, Cristina remained indifferent.

"Oh. Well, in that case, brilliant work. Seriously, your heart sounds good, the lungs do as well, I'll have a look at the shrapnel, and then we'll see what we can do, ok?"

With that she turned around to find the work area lit up with the scans, and actually let out a tiny squeal of joy, as she saw the beating heart with the metal shards around it. "Oh, this is brilliant, too!" Getting up, she moved to the tables, taking a closer look, already starting to make a plan to take them out.

"Uuh, I want something like this. J.A.R.V.I.S.? That's your name, right? Could you please highlight the shrapnel, oh, and display the ribs and the case…"

Owen smiled as Cristina started working out a plan with the artificial intelligence, bantering with the computer as if she knew it… him… for years. Obviously, J.A.R.V.I.S. also was up to date what Callie was specializing in, bringing up her recent case report of a kid with bone cancer that they had cured with an artificial ribcage out of the 3D printer.

It seemed as if the AI had only waited to display his ideas on how to help his inventor. They simply had waited for a cardiothoracic surgeon they could trust. A cardiothoracic surgeon who sounded ecstatic while discussing with J.A.R.V.I.S., who sounded confident, who sounded like this was really doable.

By the time Cristina and J.A.R.V.I.S. were discussing the pacemaker function of the reactor, Tony leaned back with a happy sigh.

"Mmm… the pink elephants are back…" DUM-E who was still dutifully holding the IV, chirped happily, while Pepper leaned her head against her husband's shoulder with a silent sob. Loki was still petting U, throwing Owen a weary look.

"So… this can be fixed? Anthony will be alright?"

* * *

Tony had not expected that he would have to argue with Pepper, Owen, _and_ Loki to be allowed back into the living room, where there were people and it would not smell of disinfectants and hospital. Among the three of them, he was pretty sure that they were starting to play a game of rock-paper-scissors on who would be allowed to drag him down to medical first.

It felt oddly comforting to have three people, two of which he was not sleeping with and did not even know for longer than a week being so concerned with his well-being.

Obviously, though, they did not really care for his mental health. That was why Cristina took a very firm place ahead of his brother-in-law on his short but illustrious best-buddy list when she hung her stethoscope around her neck after listening to him again when the drugs had kicked in, and told the party poopers in the lab: "I don't see any reason why he should not be up in the living room. He'll be lying around anyway, and we cannot do anything until Torres gets here."

Tony could've kissed her. He maybe also said something like that, back-pedaling instantly when he saw Pepper's amused frown as he praised his cardiologist's wisdom in his drug-induced enthusiasm.

"I guess I'll rather hug you… do you like hugs? Dunno if I'm good at them, but Pepper's the only girl I wanna kiss. You hear that, Peps? 'm such a lucky guy to have you! Me, of all people. Gods, I was so stupid, leaving you on that balcony, I wanted to kiss you so bad, and… and I didn't even get you your drink. Jarv… J.A.R.V.I.S., I owe Miss Potts a dirty martini and at least three olives, and…"

… _and I wasted two years pining after you in the longest self-inflicted dry-spell ever, and it took me almost dying_ again _to realize you are the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life…_

A chaste peck to his mouth shut him up before he could end his sentence, only finishing it in his head, his vision now full of strawberry-blond hair, his senses filled with her peachy odor. "I'm not allowed to drink anything with alcohol, Tony. I want Junior to have your brains and not kill the first few brain cells he might be generating."

"He's still sorting out which stem cells belong where, Love. Uh… when's the last time I told you that I love you? Because I do, you know that, right? Love you, I mean." Lord, he knew he was babbling, but these were things he wanted to tell her, and somehow never did. Now, with lowered inhibitions, it was easy, and, he hoped, at least a little endearing.

It got him another kiss, and three people in the room who desperately tried to pretend they were elsewhere in the moment. It also got him another caress through his unruly hair, something that always made him want to purr if he only knew how to do that.

"Of course I know, Tony. I love you, too. Do you really think you want to be upstairs, around Agent Barton now, though? He will tease you and your pain-med babble forever. And I suppose Miss Lewis will, too."

He looked at her through heavily lidded eyes, a hand finding her cheek and she leaned into his caress. "'m gonna sleep soon, anyway. Maybe 's better you take me to our bedroom."

Cristina had stood up by then, cocking her head at the people and the machines surrounding her patient.

"That does sound like a good idea. L'Oréal, I heard you're stronger than the regular male super-model, can you take care of that?" she asked, watching how the God once more raised his eyebrow in a way that made her want to cite a certain Vulcan. He nodded and wanted to answer, but the surgeon had already turned to her ex-husband.

"Great. Owen, you'll help me with the plan for surgery, at least for the shrapnel. We'll need Torres for the casing if Mr. Stark wants to keep the reactor. We could also switch you to a regular pacemaker. Maybe we should also contact Avery. He's an ass, but a capable plastic surgeon, for the skin transplants. God, I miss Mark, he would have loved it here…"

She turned back to the scans before anyone could say more to the topic, even though Pepper snorted at Tony's comment that he would like to stick to Stark Tech whenever possible. Loki helped him get up, a firm arm around his waist as they moved out of the lab and to the private elevator, followed by Pepper who had pried the IV bag out of DUM-E's fingers.

"Hey, J, make sure no-one else strays into the lab. Lock away anything important, no access to the suits, make DUM-E and U take care of any blueprints I left lying around. If anyone from S.H.I.E.L.D. only dares to somehow creep close, you make sure that they don't leave this room alive." Tony's announcement sounded so sober when compared to his confessions of ultimate love only minutes before.

It also spoke of the trust he had in the two surgeons that he did not offer to take everything upstairs. J.A.R.V.I.S. acknowledged his request, and the sounds of various electronic locks snapping shut could be heard in the room before the three of them really disappeared in the elevator.

Owen stepped up next to Cristina, looking at the amazingly accurate, _real-time_ scan of Tony's heart. The engineer had not told the AI to cancel it, and he was sure they could work out something with the AI when they needed stills.

He had just opened his mouth to ask Cristina how she wanted to begin when a sharp-knuckled fist connected with his upper arm.

"Ow! What…?!"

A fiery glance met him and he knew instantly that she was pissed off for something he had done, even though he did not know yet what it was.

"Cristina…?"

"She is _pregnant?!"_ she hissed, sending him her best death-glare, making him struggle for words.

"Uhm… yeah? But that shouldn't be…"

"God! You're doing it again! You only give me half of the information I need!" He knew how much she hated that. He knew what it had done to her when Henry had died on her table and she did not even know it was him.

"But…?"

"Tell me, Owen, what will happen if I off him? Or if she loses the kid because of the stress? I'll be once more the bad guy, because I not only killed Tony Stark, no, I killed some baby's Daddy, or I killed some innocent cell-heap that is still trying to figure out where its germ layers should go!" Her hands fiercely turned the hologram to a different angle, studying the metal that J.A.R.V.I.S. had highlighted.

"But… you sounded so reassuring… you need to let them know… if…", he stuttered, trying to figure out what had her all riled up. He simply got another heated glance.

"What? Oh, no, this should be a piece of cake, in contrast to the guy in a cave I have everything I need to get them out. But you know what can happen during a surgery as well as I do. She sounds calm, she appears calm, but now that I know I definitely will approach her differently."

He looked at her for a while, and then lowered his head.

"I'm sorry. It… I didn't think of it, ok? I didn't keep that information from you intentionally, you've been here for 20 minutes before he collapsed, and that says something, because he ran out of pain meds already yesterday."

Cristina took a deep breath before her face softened.

"And I'm sorry for exploding like this. But this is… huge. He's Tony Stark, for fuck's sake. I don't wanna end up in the history books as the surgeon who offed him. And now tell me who's that super-model who dragged him upstairs? I'd actually like to learn his name, I don't wanna offend a God for calling him after a shampoo-brand."

Owen actually laughed at that. "Oh, I think Loki would have told you if he had anything against the name you bestowed upon him. And, seriously, what did you do during the invasion and the aftermath? Even I saw the press conference that declared that the invasion was not Loki's fault."

Cristina huffed.

"Do you even know me, Hunt? I don't even own a TV, the stuff I do see I see at the hospital. I was in an OR, of course. There was an invasion?"

He looked at her openmouthed, until she couldn't help herself anymore and grinned.

"You really would've bought that, huh?"

He shrugged.

"With you one never knows."

* * *

Tony slept peacefully for the next few hours, accompanied by Pepper who was simply lying in bed next to him, watching him, pale fingers running over his cheeks, his forehead, through his hair.

She woke him for Lunch, reporting that everybody liked their bedrooms, and Barton asked if it was ok if they watched _Dirty Dancing_ and _Bodyguard_ with the Asgardian Gods, making Tony laugh while he asked for some soup because the bite to his tongue made moving it too much painful, and demanded to be there to watch both the movies and their alien friends.

They gathered once more in the living room, because it was more comfortable for Tony, sans the doctors who were inspecting the OR, and without Jane and Darcy, the former, because she had gotten her fingers on the telemetry of Tony's flight into the portal, the latter because Jane had dragged her along.

Thor pretended to not sulk.

Bruce and Fandral pretended not to laugh.

They got notice that Tony's Stark Force #1 had left Seattle right after Johnny finally lifted Baby in the air, doing their final dance, leaving three utterly and completely confused alien Gods in front of the TV, trying to grasp the concept of romantic movies.

This time Bruce, Clint, Gabriel, Tony _and_ Pepper did not even pretend not to laugh. Jane had still not emerged from behind her computer by then, thoroughly pissing off Darcy in turn, because she was only sitting around, waiting to do something, and learned that she had missed _Dirty Dancing_ when the people in the living room sent an invitation via J.A.R.V.I.S. for _Bodyguard_.

By the time a heavily swearing Darcy had reached the Penthouse, Gabriel revealed that he indeed was offered a job by the British Government, one that he was contemplating to accept. Tony offered Stark Force #2 and the SI legal department to get the best deal for him.

Clint offered to accompany the young man when he saw him growing pale around the nose at the mere thought of flying. It got him a round of confused looks which he answered with a shrug.

"I've got nothing else to do, and London's a nice city."

Pepper tried to remember when was the last time she had spent a day idling around like this. Lazily sitting in the living room, in her case on the fluffy carpet on the floor, right in front of Tony who was massaging her scalp.

When was the last time she had watched old movies, marveled about the reaction of people who did not know the movie, yet, or laughed through scenes that everyone knew and could talk along with? Or, in the case of Tony and Darcy, did talk along, much to the amusement of everyone else in the room, almost re-enacting the entire movie. Tony's voice was nicer when both sang _I will always love you_.

Somebody suggested _Pretty woman_ then, and actually, she should have done some SI work, she should have… she should… She volunteered to make popcorn, asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to inform her second in command that he would have to meet with the green energy council for the wind park in California, instructing her PA to help as good as she could, and returned to her spot on the floor, leaning against Tony, and watching yet another movie, where no-one died, and the couple in love got their happy ending.

She desperately hoped there was a happy end also for them when Julia Roberts had stepped into Richard Gere's life, only briefly looking up when Owen and Cristina walked into the living room, hooking Tony up on some more pain-killers, making him sleepy again, before they joined the party and became nostalgic over the film.

It was growing dark outside when they were nearly finished and J.A.R.V.I.S. announced that Happy had picked up a little army at the airport, having to resort to using not only the Bentley but also a cab to fit in the doctors and other medical staff that Dr. Hunt and Dr. Torres had organized in Seattle.

Tony was snoring softly on the couch by now, never letting go off Pepper's hand. For the sake of their male guests they put on _Prince of Persia_ , and at least the Asgardian warriors seemed to be more at ease with this topic, than with a prostitute and a businessman finding true love. Clint didn't seem to mind chick-flicks at all and stated he also would have watched _Love, actually_ for a second time, while Gabriel got all pink and flustered when Darcy started to praise Jake Gyllenhaal's…well, everything, explicitly.

Cristina was laughing, and Owen was volunteered to make coffee and bring the various take away menus from the kitchen so they could decide what they wanted for Dinner. They would simply order enough to also feed the rest of the people that were still missing, having J.A.R.V.I.S. ask Happy for an accurate head count.

Tony stirred awake halfway through the movie, a little confused as to why Vivian and Edward had made it to the Persian desert by now, but his thoughts were quickly interrupted by J.A.R.V.I.S. who announced that Mr. Hogan had arrived, that housekeeping had finished preparing the rooms for their new guests, and asked Cristina whether she would like to move into the free guestroom in the Penthouse, or if she preferred another suite.

The cardiologist shrugged, sparing half a glance for her luggage that was still standing right next to the elevator, before she decided that it would not hurt being close to her patient.

"Before long we'll be really turning the tower into a hotel", was Tony's contribution to that as the AI told them that he would take care that the room was ready by the time she wished to retire (however he would be doing that… up to now they yet had to see all the hidden abilities J.A.R.V.I.S. was working with).

Two of the newly arrived doctors expressed their desire to meet with their chief right away, leaving their luggage with their colleagues to take care of it, so Owen stepped away from their comfortable gathering in front of the TV to wait at the elevator. He had not asked yet whom Torres chose to bring along, just hinted that he wanted some of the nurses who knew Cristina and would not run away screaming when they had to work with her again.

Curious glances followed him as he stood there, slightly bouncing on his heels as he waited for his friend, his face actually lighting up when the doors opened, revealing the curvy woman with the black hair who was smiling back at him just as brightly, showing him all of her teeth as she stepped out of the cabin.

"Do you know that you made it necessary that I talked to my ex-wife to take care of my child, Hunt, because I can't leave Sofia with Meredith all the time? You will pay for this. You will sit through the next four weeks of violin lessons with her until she realizes that she's just not made for that thing!"

Owen actually whined at that. Sofia and that… it sounded like she was torturing a cat, and she was going at it very enthusiastically.

"Callie…"

"Nope. That's non-negotiable. My ears will bleed if I have to listen to it one more time, and you and your stupid guitar and frickin' rock-star voice are to blame that she wanted to learn an instrument. And now I will greet Cristina, and you will take care of this!" With that she pointed her thumb over her shoulder, before stepping further into the room, approaching the cardiologist who had leaped up from her chair, surprising more than one person when she cordially hugged the other woman.

Owen was left to stare at the other person who had exited the elevator, also clad in the blue jacket that their hospital staff wore when they were operating outside the hospital, his eyes narrowing.

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?!" he exclaimed, raising his voice at the woman with the auburn hair that stopped right in front of him, watching him wide-eyed before a sob broke free, shaking the small female.

Owen immediately softened, stepping up to her, still being watched with watery eyes, another sob echoing through the room. She made just another tiny step towards him before he wrapped his arms around her, letting her cry against his chest.

"Oh, April… what happened?"

It took a while until she stopped shaking, pulling away from him enough so he could see her face, red eyes, snotty nose, frightened and lost and alone…

"What happened?" he asked again, wiping away some of her tears. "You are not supposed to fly, April. You should be at home, finishing those pink socks, even though I told you it's gonna be a boy."

A tiny laugh left her throat, before she was taking a shaking breath.

"Cath-Catherine Avery happened… She's convinced that I'll rip Jackson off as soon as the baby is born and wants to sue me… wants sole custody for _my_ baby for her son who did not even try to fight for his child for the past months. I…" She stepped back a bit, never leaving his embrace, suppressing a groan.

"I needed to get away from there, I needed… hnn…"

Owen's eyes once more narrowed at her, oblivious to the fact that the room had gone silent around them, that they were in the center of attention by now.

"April?"

Her fingers clawed into his forearm by now, her eyes still locked on his.

"I… I needed the person who was there for every sonogram, who was happy with me, who does not think that this is just one big fraud, a scheme to get to the fucking Avery fortune… mmngh…"

"A-April…?"

She was talking herself into a rage, ranting in typical Kepner style, and Owen did not know if he should laugh or worry.

"So I just boarded the plane with Callie. I needed to get away from this _hyena_ aaaaah!" He yelped when her fingers painfully dug into his arm now, still reaching out to support the woman who was doubling over with a moan, clutching her swollen belly.

"April!"

She was panting heavily now, still straightening her back, to look at the trauma-surgeon again.

"'m in labor since we were over Michigan…" she ground out against gritted teeth, and he stared at her openmouthed before turning towards the living room, never letting go of Kepner.

"Callie! You let her get on a plane _two days_ _before_ she was due?!"

The dark-haired woman just shrugged.

"You know as well as I that she can be very convincing if she sets her mind on something. Have you ever tried talking her out of something?"

Yes, he had. And he had failed miserably every time. Still.

"You know that this was a very stupid decision, don't you?" he said, turning back to April who was breathing heavily.

"It was either getting on that plane, or murdering my ex-husband and his dragon of a mother while I'm in labor… wait, no court would blame me for murdering them then, maybe I should go back… ow… ow! Ow ow ow!"

Hunt rolled his eyes at this answer, before smiling softly. "I think it's too late for that, April. How far apart are your contractions?"

April jumped as much as every other person in the room when J.A.R.V.I.S.'s _notify strangers_ sound beeped.

" _Dr. Kepner had one contraction when entering the tower. That was four minutes ago. Cervical dilation is at 10 centimeters. I suggest moving to the medical floor."_

"What was…?"

Owen interrupted April, turning once more to the other two doctors in the room. "Okay, let's go, then!"

Cristina just stared at him. "Why are you looking at me? She wants _you_ to hold her hand. Do you know when the last time I delivered a baby was? Because I don't."

"I'm a trauma-surgeon, I stitch up soldiers on a battlefield!" he retorted, having Callie roll her eyes.

"God, stop being such Drama-Queens, both of you. I brought Nurse Carol and Bokhee, so just don't get underfoot."

She was still stared at out of these ocean-blue eyes, and finally sighed in surrender. "Fine. I'll help. You do know that the last kid _I_ delivered was my own, and I was anesthetized and busy surviving a car crash, right?" With that she turned around to the room, to the people scrutinizing them, to the man lying on the couch, comfortably propped up on a pile of pillows.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, ladies and gentlemen. But this is the usual chaos that follows us everywhere. At least, this time, the plane did not crash. Cristina…"

"No, I will not help you. Say hello to Bokhee for me, though. And I bet 10 bucks that it's a girl."

When Owen and Callie finally had maneuvered April back into the elevator, stunned silence followed their departure.

It was Pepper who finally spoke up. "Okay. What the hell was _that_?"

Cristina just shrugged. "This? Used to be my live until five years ago."

It got her a few resigned nods, and confused glances, especially from the Æsir company they had. Fandral scooted a bit forward on the cushion of his chair, leaning his elbows on his knees as he addressed the surgeon.

"I may have a few more questions relating this _work-wife_ paradigm."


	18. Force of nature

_**Chapter 18: Force of nature**_

 _Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot. (Charlie Chaplin)_

* * *

Marlene Donovan liked to think of herself as Pepper Potts' Pepper Potts. She had started working for Tony Stark's right hand approximately half a year after Potts had somehow ended up with the toddler that the world's most eligible bachelor could be more than 14 years ago.

She had thought for all of five minutes that her boss was sleeping with the bigger boss. After witnessing for ten minutes how the two of them interacted, she thought that they _should_ be sleeping with each other. How it took them fricking 12 years to realize that was beyond her.

Another thing that Marlene Donovan thought was that, when she had still been a PA, and not the CEO, Pepper Potts had been way better at delegating. She was _always_ working, now. Even the day she got married. The meeting with the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Energy really could have waited a few weeks.

She was a bit miffed that she had not been invited to the wedding, on the other hand, it would be like Stark to do something like that completely spontaneously, so she was not surprised. It needed three people to keep that man organized, and she was thanking whatever deity was listening every day that she had not inherited Pepper's job, but that the electronical butler, J.A.R.V.I.S., was taking over more and more of the organizational tasks.

The few times the redhead had been on vacation had been an epiphany to everyone that thought Tony Stark was easy to deal with, if you just chose the right approach. Nope. You learned five minutes into the job that he did not stick to schedules, that he was prone to simply disappear, and to do stupid things. He would talk first and foremost with Pepper, ignoring whoever had drawn the short straw to take care of him, and rather talking to that J.A.R.V.I.S. construct that would then relay his queries to the poor souls who had to substitute the treasured Miss Potts.

None of them had the balls to tell them him off like Potts did… not that people did not tell him off. She was the only one where it mattered, though. When Pepper was promoted CEO, J.A.R.V.I.S. first continued forwarding _Sir's_ requests to the appropriate people that were supposed to take care of Tony's needs. Until the AI decided that he did not need the intermediaries in 95% of the cases.

Miss Potts was taking care of the 5% he could not cover, and up to now nobody was even sure if Stark ever realized that he did not really have a personal assistant anymore.

Marlene was not surprised that Pepper called in and actually did work the day after the wedding… on the second day, though, the PA started to make plans to send her workaholic of a boss on a well-deserved vacation. When Pepper called in the next time, she was prepared…

… for everything but her boss telling her that she would not come in, that her deputy would have to go to the green energy council, and that Marlene was to go with him. She started on telling her to keep her updated and that she would keep in touch.

That was when Marlene struck, telling her boss that her complete management and J.A.R.V.I.S. had distributed or delayed all of her chores for the next four weeks, and that they wished her a happy honeymoon and were expecting a gigantic party once they were back.

Potts… or maybe she should call her Mrs. Stark now? had been speechless, sounding a bit overwhelmed and close to tears when she thanked her, not even cooking up a fuss or refusing to leave Stark Industries alone for so long. Donovan's best argument was that J.A.R.V.I.S. was approving anything that left the building anyway – she would know when anyone fucked up.

Maybe she should have been more suspicious. She was too proud, though, that she had managed talking Pepper Potts into a vacation to give more thought to the fact that she had given in too easily.

* * *

The people in the Penthouse slowly started to leave once the movie was done and they had eaten, Clint and Gabriel to plan their journey, Darcy to figure out if Jane had already gotten high on _science!_. Fandral simply followed them, full of Thai food, content that there were more people who did _not_ like spicy food, and proclaiming that Midgardian bedding was indeed wonderful.

Bruce had moved to the medical floor to offer his midwife-services. After all, he had delivered more babies than he could count under circumstances that were everything but ideal. He would definitely feel better than leaving the poor girl with a bunch of _other-field_ surgeons and nurses.

Loki had helped Pepper to see Tony into their bedroom after feeding the masses and waiting for a rather refractory baby to be born, where Cristina was once more checking his medication and telling him not to worry that he felt so groggy.

"Just sleep. It's gonna get hard afterwards, so take all the time you can get to rest."

While the surgeon patted his shoulder before she left to finally sleep after a day of travel and another day of planning a surgery and _not_ sleeping (thank God she was used to 48 hour shifts), the engineer was already half asleep (again… it was most probably the most he had slept in the past six weeks), Loki had thrown them a confused look.

Pepper just kissed her sleepy genius' forehead. "We've had worse, right?" When comparing this to Afghanistan, or two years ago, or only a few days ago, that was definitely true. At least now, he had appropriate medical attendance and people who loved him around him.

"Hmmm… yup… yah know what, Peps? I like those IV-bags… 's better than booze an' DUM-E's chlorophyll-smoothies an' bein' alone all the time… please don't make me drink DUM-E's smoothies, they're horrible…" Tony slurred as his head fell back into his pillows, eyes already shut.

She sent him a tired smile before kissing his forehead again, not removing her lips as she spoke. "I hope there will be fewer explosions, this time…"

"No promises… y'know 'm a suckr fr a good 'xplosion…"

She could not help but chuckle to that, seeing Loki move uncomfortably at the corner of the bed, as she pressed her lips down a little harder before straightening her back, taking another look at the sleeping man in the bed, and then abruptly turned around, leaving the room as fast as she could.

Leaving a very confused Trickster God behind, standing next to the bed as he heard her feet patter down the stairs.

Thor had not left the Penthouse. He actually wanted to talk to his brother, to the friend Stark, he had come here with more than the intention to figure out how they would proceed with the Thanos problem. After all he also had a _I was promoted to the King of Kings_ problem, as well as an _I don't trust most of my friends or any of the people in my court anymore_ problem, a _How can I make up for all the bilgesnipe-shite that I did to my brother_ problem. Not to forget the _My old man did even more shit to my baby brother_ problem and the _Fuck, the stupid Bifrost is still broken_ problem.

None of these he could solve with Mjolnir.

And he was very far out of his comfort zone, that he had to admit, when he had contemplated possible solutions for all of those problems. Throwing his hammer was easier.

He had been groomed for centuries to become a king, and now, more than ever was thinking back to the times when he and Loki were mere children, and he promised his brother that they would rule alongside. How much easier things would be with the other God at his side…

But in the moment, this was not an option. He would figure out whom he can trust, and whom he cannot. He had consulted constructors on Asgard with the plans for the construction of the Bifrost, after all, they were named constructors, they should be able to _construct._

Two had quit before the job even started, and the last three kept arguing over the plans and how to read them since he presented them with the millennia-old parchment.

It did not take a genius to come to the conclusion that one might ask the genius at hand, a person who seemed to live of thinking up new things, of inventing, of _constructing_ , Hugin and Munin appeared to approve the decision to reach out to Midgard, to the friend Tony, while Thor was quite sure that his father would have dismissed this possibility merely by the fact that they would be consulting a lowly mortal.

It only proved how detached from the reality the All-father had become in the past decades. Decades? More like centuries. Unfortunately, the recent events had prevented him from asking so far. It did not matter. What were a few more days?

He was ready to grovel before his brother to atone for at least some of his failures. The Norns knew he would not be able to remedy most of them.

Nothing had prepared him for a weeping mortal female descending the stairs to the level where she and her spouse, as well as Loki were housed and heading directly for the bar, though.

"God, J.A.R.V.I.S., I finally understand Tony's need to drown himself in a bottle every now and then. I need a drink… or five… I…"

" _You do know that it will harm…"_ the artificial intelligence started answering, but was cut off by a huff… or a sob.

"Of course I know that. I'm having a god damn nervous fucking breakdown here, J.A.R.V.I.S., and not a frickin' lobotomy!"

The AI affirmed that she was doing her breakdown just as eloquently as _Sir,_ and this was when the dam really broke. The redhead was apologizing to J.A.R.V.I.S. for once more lashing out at him with not reason, while her shaky hands were trying to re-organize Tony's liquor cabinet. Embarrassed by the fact that she once more OCD-ed to calm her nerves, Pepper ran a wary hand over her face, not really succeeding to stop her tears or the violent sobs that shook her chest.

The Thundergod had stood up by then from the couch and surrounded it, stepping closer to that area, taking in the red eyes, the uncontained tears, the runny nose, and when he reminded himself what exactly had happened to the inventor, how he _was_ mortal and how short their lives were, how precious every minute was, he deemed them more than justified.

Those were ugly tears, face contorted with sobs, tears, that one did not simply caress away by a swift gesture of a gentle hand.

Thor had had his fair share of maidens, in his bedroom, briefly courting one or two before they were deemed unworthy by his father or his mother… they were all beautiful, though, and very keen on making him see this side of them, only. He had only found out very recently that he actually liked a woman with an opinion and a voice (which actually had been one of the reasons why some of the maidens he considered were a no-no to his parents), and not just a pretty face (who most probably had some hidden agenda or was used as a tool by her family – oh, when had he started to overthink everything?).

And while Thor knew how to handle the horrors of a battlefield or a horde of cranky advisors that were battling over who was the favorite child, a crying woman, a mortal, nonetheless, it scared him, like every other man. He had closed up to her before he had even come up with a plan how to soothe her, and then, in the spur of the moment resorted to Dr. Hunt's method of calming an upset female.

He hugged her.

Pepper tensed at first as those powerful arms closed around her, not even knowing that Thor was doing his best not to squeeze too hard, all of the occasions of his friends gasping for oxygen when he was greeting them too enthusiastically in his mind.

She wanted to lash out on him, slap him, scratch his eyes out, but he was warm, and his heartbeat sounded calming and… he smelt good, with a tiny tinge of coconut, and that was what made her sob again as she let her arms hang loose and leaned against those huge pectoral muscles that were just at the right height for her head.

She did not care if it was silk or some alien fabric that she was staining with her tears. She tried to ignore the amused snort when she choked out a "Don't think you're off the hook just because you give awesome hugs!" after a few minutes of trying to gather her thoughts and get her shit together again without further embarrassing herself in front of a God.

Said God laughed, a low rumble vibrating in his chest as he locked his eyes with his brother's, who was still standing at the top of the stairs after closing the door to the bedroom quietly before trying to figure out what had the Lady Pepper flee like a wounded animal. Loki sent Thor a rather confused look, which the Thundergod answered with a shrug and a helpless expression, before releasing the female out of his embrace, resting his hands on her shoulders as he made her look at him.

"I dare not think myself this easily forgiven, Lady Pepper. Your ire on behalf of my brother is more than justified, and it gladdens me that he found such generous hosts and loyal friends in you and the Man of Iron. When friend Tony is well again, he will testify for Loki, and I hope matters will ameliorate."

Pepper lowered her head at this, suppressing a belly-deep sigh as she wiped her eyes.

"Tony won't be doing much of anything for the next few months, Thor. He's going to have open-heart surgery, they want to replace part of his ribcage by a prosthetic. He will be in pain and weak, he won't be able to move, and… and he will be in pain… and if that doesn't trigger flashbacks from Afghanistan then I don't know what will…"

Sky-blue eyes rose to look at the Thundergod, unshed tears once more burning in the corners, as she lifted her hands, running both through her hair.

"Do you know how hard it is to keep that man in a bed? You don't pay attention for one minute and he's in his workshop, locking himself away in there and manufacturing a fucking death trap that the media name Iron Man, and it wasn't enough that he'd been kidnapped and held hostage and was tortured for three months, no, _he_ goes and becomes a super hero. It's not enough that I thought he was dead for three months, no, of course Obi was the one who tried to kill him. The man who practically raised him after his parents and Edwin Jarvis died. My husband trusts his artificial intelligence more than me because people always somehow ended up betraying or leaving him. And Tony just keeps almost dying… but that's good, right? He's not dead, right, this time he's not even almost dead, and I'm so sorry for letting Loki down but… but now… how…?"

She hiccupped by now, her forehead coming to rest against Thor's collarbone, and the Thunderer moved his arms around her again just at the same time as a soft hand came to rest on Peppers shoulder, long, cool fingers curling around the delicate bones, making her tense again.

Loki shared another helpless look with his brother as he stepped up behind them, marveling once more at the fact how easy it was for Thor to react on an emotional level that maybe was not exactly appropriate, at least not by Asgardian standards, but seemed to be exactly what was needed. The blonde was off, sometimes at least (the whole disaster with Jotunheim and everything that lead to Loki letting Frost Giants in the weapons vault were only some of the examples)… but in about 70% of the cases he was right.

The muffled voice of the distressed female startled them both.

"God, I dealt with international crises _and_ Tony insulting multiple heads of state at the same time and I'm losing it because rehab might not be a walk in the park…"

Pepper once more stepped out of Thor's arms, this time turning around to the Trickster God, her eyes brimmed with tears, one hand furiously wiping underneath her nose.

"I… I dealt with… T-Tony and J.A.R.V.I.S. can figure out something portable with all the evidence, and… I could go with you?" It sounded like a question, addressing the God, looking for an advice, as if he knew something she did not.

"May-maybe we'd have to bring someone who was in the battle, maybe Agent Barton might be willing, he does not seem to hate you anymore… he could con-confirm… and…" She hiccupped now, making the God of Mischief stepping into her personal space without really realizing it, his hands now resting on her shoulders, where Thor's had been only moments before..

"Tis nothing to concern ourselves with in the moment, Lady Pepper, there are more important things. Anthony's wellbeing is more important than me, so please, do not fret. Even though I told my brother that simply pardoning me would not be a permanent fixture for how the people perceive me on Asgard, it will give us time. Especially, since we do not know how travelling with the Tesseract might affect your body."

He was surprised by Pepper making a step forward, her forehead landing on his chest as she sighed while Loki sent his brother another wide-eyed look that had Thor smirking. While his hug had helped calming her down again, she had only tolerated his touch, and now was openly seeking contact with Loki, and his brother looked as if he had not the slightest clue how to react.

His baby brother still had to learn that the women on Midgard were very different from what the females on Asgard were taught was appropriate behavior. It had taken him some time to figure out that Darcy was not making any advances on him when she was touching or hugging him – it was a simple show of affection between friends, and yes, here on Midgard you could also have female friends which you did not wish to court or to bed. Their own voices, their own heads. He really liked that concept more and more.

"I should've really considered Tony's rant about how we never planned for a proper honeymoon before things went downhill. Somewhere far, far away with no phone connection, no internet, no workshop, no people who know us. God… even when he's not risking his life anymore, he still somehow ends up hurt… why can't people just stop hurting him?" she asked, her sobs turning louder again, followed by a muffled "Sorry" against Loki's dress shirt.

Thor sent him another look, raising his eyebrows as he urged the other God to _do_ something, and the Thunderer got himself some rolled eyes before Loki let his hands drop from her shoulders, closing his arms around the diminutive body in front of him. Instantly, Pepper's arms looped around his waist where they had been hanging lose in Thor's embrace

"There is nothing you have to be sorry for", he then said, hugging her a little closer until the sounds of her crying subsided.

After a few minutes, Pepper loosened her grip on their resident Demigod, guiding a slightly embarrassed look at her feet while wiping her face and finding the spot where her tears had stained Loki's shirt incredibly interesting…

"I look like Gene Simmons now, huh?" she asked, as she finally lifted her gaze to the frown that displayed on Loki's face, running a finger underneath her eye and surprisingly, it didn't come away with a black smudge. Right. She had spent the entire day in front of the TV or with Tony in their bedroom. When was the last time that she had not put on make-up?

Moving another step back and out of the Demigod's reach she now ran both of her hands over her face, through her hair, letting out a frustrated groan.

"I'm… sorry… and embarrassed. Must be the hormones…" Not that she knew if pregnancy hormones would make her a crying mess that embraced Gods for comfort. Loki sent her a soft smile before throwing another brief glance at Thor, who was frowning by now.

"As I said, there is _nothing_ you have to apologize for. The past days have been very stressful, and I admit I had an episode when I was done with interrogating _the Other_ that required Fandral's presence to calm me down."

"I guess I don't want to see the video feed from that, huh?" Pepper asked and Loki cocked his head to one side.

"No, you don't", was all he said, before his glance briefly shifted to Thor. He could see that the Thunderer wanted to talk, intriguingly enough it seemed as if for the first time in his life Thor was keen on making plans, on involving other people beyond simply marching out and smashing things.

"Would you care for a drink, brother? I guess Anthony would not mind if we shared a glass of his spirituous beverages?" he asked, addressing Pepper again who was still busy wiping her eyes and getting her hair in a disarray from running her hands through it.

"No, just help yourself, the tumbler with the square lid has Tony's favorite stuff, and there's some really good cognac in the one with the round lid. Ice is in the fridge… Is… is it okay if I go back to Tony? J.A.R.V.I.S. can fill me in if you need anything from our side. We can talk tomorrow…"

Thor nodded, his gaze lingering for a bit longer on the redhead, as he wished her a good night and watched her as she ascended the stairs again and disappeared in her bedroom. Loki busied himself in the meantime with preparing their drinks, trying to remember how much Anthony poured into his glass when he had been threatening him at their Penthouse-meeting.

He was pretty sure that you did not fill the glass entirely, so he went for two fingers and took a sip, before bowing his head in an appreciating nod. Definitely better than mead so far.

"I would not have pardoned you if I thought father would claim Hliðskjálf back. It will not happen, Loki."

Sitting down on one of the barstools at the bar the Thunderer accepted the tumbler Loki handed him.

"I know, Thor. You never carried Gungnir before. Your armor changed… you… seem different, brother. But that does not mean that the court will accept any of the plans we might come up with to defeat Thanos, simply by the fact that I was involved in planning them. They will not listen, they will maybe look at all the evidence, but dismiss it, if only by the fact that it is of Midgardian origin and a mortal woman wants to fend for me. If you want to follow through with this, we have to convince someone else to accompany us. I will not expose the Lady Pepper to travelling with the Tesseract or these bloodhounds in court who will dismiss everything she says simple because of the fact that she is missing… how did Anthony put that? Oh, missing some dangly bits between her legs."

Thor listened to him ranting, calmly watching the Trickster getting worked up while trying to protect someone he obviously cared for.

"The Tesseract represents no danger for the Lady Pepper. Or her babe", he said then. When this steep furrow between Loki's eyes appeared, Thor just shrugged.

"I am still the God of Fertility, brother. And with the Odinforce many things have become clearer. Odin was not called the All-father without reason. I… know things. I see. I… understand… and there are so many things I want to change. There are so many things that are just wrong, and Odin never did anything against them, and the more time passes, the worse it gets. I don't even know where to start."

Lifting his blue eyes from the amber liquid in his glass, the Thunderer looked at his quiet brother.

"I need you, Loki. You have always been my voice of reason, and the Norns know that I was horrible at listening to you. I have spent less than two weeks in this realm and I see so much that could be ameliorated in ours. We deny our people education. We still have slaves. I found out only recently that the palace pays the servants with food and in kind while the gold piles in our treasury or is being put on walls. Women are treated like furniture and we look down upon other realms without knowing anything about them. I need somebody to repair the Bifrost and our constructors do not even know how to read the plans!"

Thor looked so close to ripping out his hair that Loki reached out, stopping himself from touching the other God only inches before his fingers touched him.

"I want to show those plans to friend Tony, and all our court can come up with is if I really want to involve a lowly, dumb, unknowing child of a mortal, and I cannot punch every single one of them, even if I wanted to."

"Nobody ever said it was easy to be king, Thor." Loki softly said this as he took in his brother's rant that was obviously not over yet. Calloused fingers curled around his glass, before he took a sip as well and hummed his approval.

"I thought it would be easier, though. I have no-one I can trust. They are Odin's court, yes, I can overrule them simply by the fact that we have an absolute monarchy, but they don't even want to think about changing anything. If they have their will, Svartalfheim will stay a deserted planet even though it is inhabitable. Jotunheim sooner or later will decay completely due to the loss of the casket of ancient winters… How Odin could stand this knowledge is beyond me… billions of souls sacrificed for an ancient grudge…"

Loki did not answer this. Both of them had been the acting regent of Asgard more than once, yet, none of them had experienced the Odinforce before. Loki did not know what Thor was experiencing, and knowing his brother, Thor would not be really good at explaining his experiences.

"Everybody is so afraid of losing what little power they have so they annihilate every prospect of change before it can even happen. Asgard… the nine realms are doomed if we continue like this."

Downing the rest of his 10.000 dollar scotch, Thor moved to stand up, looking at his astonished brother.

"We need Anthony Stark. And I need you, Loki. What is the title of All-father good for, if one is just sitting on their Throne, watching as good men die and empires fall?"

"Thor… what are you…?"

The Thunderer was already halfway through the glass door to the balcony, producing the Tesseract in its case from a pocket dimension with a movement that normally was Loki's prerequisite. It made the Trickster raise his eyebrow and wonder what else Thor had learned to do with the powers that used to be his father's.

"I am bringing Eír. Expect me to be back in the morning. And yes, pocket dimensions are incredibly useful, brother."

This had Loki chuckle briefly before trying to reason with Thor once more.

"You know as well as I that not even Eír can regrow bones. We also do not know how extensive the nerve damage to Anthony's heart is. And it is the construct in his chest that blocks my magic, so it will also block hers."

"The mortal doctors seem to have a good plan how to help friend Tony. Maybe Eír can help with the convalescence. The least we can do is have her have a look at him, right?"

Thor was astonished by the soft smile Loki sent him by now.

"Who knew, big brother, it seems as if we might yet make a strategist out of you."

Thor still reveled in the proud look his baby brother had sent him when he materialized back in his chambers on Asgard, calling for one of the servants before he had even let go of the crate.

It was one of the new boys, Lejs, if he remembered correctly, that answered and was sent away to find out whether Asgard's head healer had already retired, and if not, was wanted to meet the All-father Thor immediately, otherwise, right in the morning.

Being King had to have some merits, after all.

* * *

When Owen stepped out of the elevator the next morning, people were already moving around in the Penthouse, or rather, in Tony's case, sitting on the couch and being waited on hand and foot by an Asgardian God.

The surgeon desperately needed a change of clothes, and was actually happy that Tony's driver had been thinking after taking the rest of the Hunts/Potts to the airport and brought his luggage back, including the guitar. In the moment he was in scrubs, asking himself how he did look in the pastel-mint rather than dark blue. To be honest, though, he wanted some jeans and a pullover… and maybe a nap in a bed and not on a stretcher in the medical unit.

Loki turned his head smiled at the surgeon as he handed Anthony his coffee before sitting down next to the engineer where he started munching on his granola after wishing Dr. Hunt a good morning. The Lady Cristina and Dr. Banner had yet to rise.

At the same time, sharp clicks echoed on the floor of the hallway in the upper level of the Penthouse, revealing Pepper as she marched down the stairs, clad in one of her business outfits and black four inch heels that made her brother's feet hurt by only looking at them. She forced a smile as she went into the living room, making a detour as she spotted the bundle in Owen's arms.

"I wanted to introduce you to the newest member of our somewhat crazy family. Little Alexis Reed Kepner gave her Mommy a hard time, yesterday. Bruce is really a wonder, she tried coming with her feet first and he managed to turn her. I was afraid we'd have to perform a C-section…", he said, watching how a slim, carefully manicured finger reached out to caress the little girl's head, while asking himself at the same time when Ginny had put on the black nail-polish she was wearing now.

As if on cue, the tiny girl in the pink blanket lost her pacifier and started crying, only to have the man cradling her in his arms hush her while fishing for the comforter, efficiently distracting him from wondering about his sister's getup.

He knew what a picture that made, he was tall and muscular, something he must have inherited from his late father, because Evelyn was rather tiny. Baby Alexis almost fit into one of his hands.

"Oh, sweet baby girl, that's no way to greet the day. You yell at it like that and it might just yell right back, you know?"

Yes, he also knew he was a softie when it came to children, otherwise he would not have turned into a Daddy-substitute for Sofia, Meredith's kids wouldn't come and go from his home as if they also lived there, and he wouldn't have taken over the role Jackson was supposed to play for April during her pregnancy. Emma was surprisingly okay with all of that, as long as he didn't start the talk about a second kid again.

He had been shocked how the younger man had lashed out at his ex-wife in public when Arizona had ratted her out and had not thought twice about seeking her out afterwards to remind her that this was something good, a wonder, and not something she should allow anyone to make her feel bad about.

When she called him the same evening, in tears, telling him how Jackson had shown up at her place, first to apologize and then to accuse her that she'd only been waiting until it was too late for an abortion and why she was making _him_ go through that again, he had been furious. He was proud of her for telling him off, after all he sounded like he was trying to force her into getting rid of the kid if he'd known earlier. My belly, my baby, your opinion does not count here! Go April.

He was torn between reviving some of his combat-training from the army to show the other man what he thought about his actions, and driving over to April's with a bucket of ice cream and a hug.

He did the latter, of course, once more with Emma's blessing (it was one of the few times they completely took the same side, and Owen actually had to talk her out of paying Jackson a visit), holding her as she cried, as she told him about all her fears, and that she was thinking about getting a gene-test and some other tests, but the way everybody was treating her made her think that the outcome would just be like the last time, and if she didn't know, then maybe it wasn't true.

He made sure that Robbins got reprimanded for her actions, and shielded his second in command as good as he could from both her ex-husband and his hyena of a mother who first played best friend and the next day sued her for signing the divorce papers knowing that she was carrying Jackson's child.

He introduced her to Addison Montgomery when she finally was ready to know for sure what was awaiting her with her baby. It was weird how he still was in contact with her, after all, she had left the hospital long before he had started working there, and only had really met her while saving Callie and Sofia. He vividly remembered Mark and Arizona arguing back then, and personally, he still thought the orthopedist would have been better off with the plastic surgeon instead of marrying Robbins.

Addison was everything April needed. She simply hopped over to the Grey Sloan Memorial hospital to help, and never carried this _holier than thou_ attitude that surrounded Arizona. She was gentle, and understanding, and managed to make April laugh more than once during their first ultrasound when she told her about the early days of Alex Karev in pediatrics. She knew the crazy of their hospital in Seattle, yet was happy that she had left and found her luck in L.A.

The baby was more than fine, but crossing its legs every time they tried to spot what gender it was, Alex was taking over April's care, Owen was made her emergency contact, and somehow, right now, he felt like he'd just become a father again.

He tried not to think about the three pairs of eyes that were directed at him as he nuzzled the baby's head, taking in the unique smell, before placing a kiss on her tiny forehead.

"Huh, didn't know kidnapping ran in your family, Peps", Tony joked, making the surgeon look up again, rolling his eyes, more about himself than the others.

"April knows that I have her, thank you very much. She's had an exhausting night and is trying to sleep, and lil' Lexi here is restless." She once more lost the pacifier, only to have Owen murmur something about every kid being the same at that age.

Tony just grinned before sipping on his coffee again. Loki smiled and turned back to his breakfast. Ginny sighed, making Owen throw her a questioning look.

"Why're you dressed to kill, Gin? I though your lot in the company made you go on holidays?"

Another belly deep sigh made him worry as Ginny reached out to once more caress the baby.

"Well. Nick Fury left S.H.I.E.L.D. medical against his doctors' advice yesterday, took Captain America with him, and is now threatening people at the SI dockyard in Norfolk where the Helicarrier lies to be repaired to get their work done faster, as if he had any say in that. And now I have to leave and discuss this with President Ellis, the Secretary of Defense and the heads of CIA, NSA, and Homeland Security before I rip the collective World Security Council _and_ S.H.I.E.L.D. a new one… a cute baby's not helping to keep my mood murderous."

She turned to the living room after pecking her brother's cheek when his smile turned goofy again.

"You'll let me know when Thor is back?"

Loki nodded.

"Of course I will. I have also informed Fandral, and J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke to Agent Barton and Mr. Holmes, as well as Agent Romanoff. I will retrieve Mr. Fury and Mr. Rogers as soon as we're ready. Do not worry. You have three Gods backing you up, after all."

She only nodded at that, and then left the Penthouse, sharp clicks of her heels echoing through the room until she had entered the elevator.

Owen made his way to the couch in the meantime, allowing the two other men a closer look at the infant.

"So, Ginny's on the warpath, huh?"

Tony smiled softly.

"Yup. And she's taking no prisoners today. I know better than to confront her when she's in that mood. I mean, she already rung a president out of bed today, and got like seven people with impossible schedules together on one table… or phone-conference. Not to forget the three Gods she's wrapped around her pinkie."

Owen laughed.

"And God knows she doesn't need them. But I bet you ten bucks that if Captain America annoys her today she will threaten to go for the family jewels."

Loki simply sent him a confused look, not getting the reference, while Tony laughed, his hand automatically reaching for the reactor. That caught Owen's attention.

"Does it hurt again? Callie and Ben, our anesthetist, should come up soon, and Cristina doesn't rise before 10 if she doesn't have to, but we should discuss what we wanna do rather soon. And to be honest, I'd rather not have you wax poetic about pink elephants or your affections for my ex-wife."

The engineer laughed again and shook his head.

"Nah, I'm fine. And I mean in an _it's a two on the scale_ kinda way. I'm just always afraid it may come more loose than it already is."

And he hated that he could not be down in the conference room, together with Pepper, to put an end on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s megalomaniac tendencies. J.A.R.V.I.S. was great at investigating and summarizing stuff. Though, in the last few days, it felt like Pepper and the AI were conspiring again, and at first, he did not care, but now, he could not help but wonder.

Owen sat down on one of the chairs with a huff, adjusting the child in his arms that was watching him with unfocused eyes.

"The way I bandaged you it shouldn't go anywhere, don't worry. And after we're done with you, you'll never have to worry again."

Tony was spared an answer as one of the guestroom doors opened, revealing a barefoot, bare-legged, stretching Cristina Yang with crazy black locks all over her head, wearing a t-shirt that reached down to mid-thighs.

"Mmmmh… Good morning everyone. Tony, I am stealing that bed when I'm leaving again, the mattress is great. Is there coffee?" She only now spotted Owen and ignored the blush that crept up Loki's cheeks as well as Tony's chuckle as she stretched again, revealing a pair of black panties.

"Uh, baby! Gimme! What's her name? Or did I lose my money?" she asked, while once more being incredibly thankful for her ability to wake in under ten seconds. That was something very useful for working in a hospital, being able to fall asleep on the spot, and wake up to full functionality even faster.

Owen did not answer as he handed over the bundle in his hands.

He was pretty sure that this was one of _his_ old t-shirts she was wearing.

* * *

When Pepper, Bruce and the three Gods had finished dealing with S.H.I.E.L.D. and all the nonsense Nick Fury had been cooking up in a rather tedious meeting and returned to the Penthouse, they walked into a scene that had them frown, eyebrows knitted, and, in Pepper's case, mouth slightly agape.

There were six people standing around Tony's desk, various screens were open, showing the heart, the shrapnel, ribcage, the reactor.

"No, seriously, it's genius, J.A.R.V.I.S. I am soooo going to steal you. We can keep the upper part of the sternum, so the mobility of his arms won't be affected at all. And we fit the reactor into the prosthetic; there will be no need for a casing that reaches into the chest!"

Dr. Torres seemed to be very enthusiastic over the AI's suggestions how to _repair_ his creator. She got a round of critical looks.

"Yeah, but with the sternum, or what's left of it in place it will be rather hard to get the ribs into the appropriate openings", the woman with the auburn hair in scrubs and a fluffy bathrobe said, throwing a side glance towards Owen who nodded thoughtfully.

" _I can manufacture the prosthetics with joints that can be fixed after being set in place. I have also reduced the reactor in size. It is self-sustaining, but knowing Sir he would still like to not hide it beneath a skin graft."_ J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded just as enthusiastic, flipping pictures as he explained.

The dark-skinned doctor sighed.

"You know, Jackson showed me a lot… but I really don't have a clue how to fix the skin at the opening, then… It would be better if you had him here, to be honest… I'd like to concentrate on the anesthetics part." Weary glances were sent at the woman in the bathrobe who shrugged.

"Then call him. I already talked to him today, after all I just had his child. Apparently, he and Catherine had a huge fallout, followed by a rather spectacular fight between her and Dr. Webber in the lobby of the hospital, at least according to Alex' texts. Richard answered Jackson's phone this morning, he is staying with him in the moment, and he said that they all tried talking her out of suing me, but, well…"

Her colleagues were sending her astonished looks, while the brunet woman in the flowing blue gown was shifting a little uncomfortably at the change of topic. April just shrugged.

"What? He is Lexi's Dad, and I never intended to keep him away. Without Catherine's constant meddling I also believe we would have somehow made this work smoother. And to be honest, he's afraid of Owen, so he will behave", she said with a grin before sitting down on the one chair that was positioned in front of the desk, most probably organized only for her.

"He's what?" the redhead croaked, having Cristina huff in turn.

"Seriously? You're the big, bad Army guy who breaks up most fights that turn violent at the hospital. I bet Jackson never had to fight anyone in his life, you know how he attacked Alex during our housewarming party, he's hitting like a girl, and it was also a fight you ended. Nobody in the hospital wants to be at the other end of your fists, Honey."

"You were sitting on the roof with Derek, how…?"

"Geez, those are also my friends, and I know how to use youtube, Hunt. My whole department in Zurich is fangirling over your singing and playing _Silent Night_ at the last Christmas party."

"They made a video?!" The horrified glance was directed at the two work-wives and Ben Warren, all of them were grinning madly.

"Honestly, dude, you shouldn't give fucking concerts in our entrance hall if you don't want them to end up online. Every time I hear _Wish you were here_ I replace Pink Floyd with your voice and a frickin' acoustic guitar!"

A flustered Owen hummed and then turned back to the desk, determined to change the topic as he was addressing the up to now unknown woman in the rather impractical seeming dress.

"So… you think you can fix all the strains and injuries we're gonna cause so he will have up to no convalescence time?"

The woman nodded. "The device is causing interference with my powers, to really assess the damage we would have to take it out. But I am positive that I can mend any incision or bruise without leaving a trace."

"We'll have to resort to a regular pacemaker during the surgery then. Do you think you could also repair the nerve damage on the heart? Then he would not need the reactor anymore", Cristina asked, fingers routinely moving with the holograms, as if she'd never been doing anything else. J.A.R.V.I.S. made a note to talk to _Sir_ and suggest branching out in medical tech supply. If people were only half as intrigued with the possibilities as Dr. Yang and Dr. Torres, they would make another fortune doing good.

Eír looked a bit helpless at the other woman. She did not know, and this was what she told them. She could have analyzed what was broken and needed mending in the mortal even without a soul forge. But something was blocking her out. And it made her uncomfortable.

Odin would have never requested something like that from her. She was the head healer, she was at his disposal, at the royal family's. Mortals were unimportant, low life, gone in mere decades, why save one when in the time of his death three more were born?

Thor had thrown her a seething look as she had articulated her thought. "Does this mean that our lives are more precious than theirs? Because we live longer? This man is a friend, a genius mind, an inventor, a kind soul, and the savior of Midgard. His life is just as important as any other life, no matter the realm, no matter the race. And if you cannot see this, Lady Eír, you will have served the royal family for the longest time. There are plenty of gifted healers on Asgard, you are not as irreplaceable as you might think."

The intense blue gaze had made her want to back away into a corner, away from him. She had felt the shift when Thor had returned, had felt the Odinforce leave the old regent, claiming the new King.

The new King who had set in motion more changes in the time of two days than Odin had in the past millennium. The King who was determined to right the wrongs that had been done, to finally move Asgard out of her stagnation.

Of course she had bowed her head and agreed to come with him. After all it did not hurt to look at the mortal. How fatal could his condition be?

They walked in on a blushing Prince Loki and their grinning patient sitting on a couch, a smiling redhead on a chair, and the crazy person who called herself a _cardiologist_ in only a shirt and _underwear_ , holding an infant in her arms, declaring that it was never too early to _dance in your underwear_ simply because you were happy, while doing exactly that.

"Relish the tiny things, little Lexi. You will realize they are the things that matter in the end…"

Mortals were indeed weird.

And not as mentally retarded as the golden realm deemed them to be. The apparatus they were using to investigate the patient was indeed glorious – it was interactive, pro-active, creative, she had never seen anything like this before. And the mortal they were treating had invented all of this. While the woman with the dark hair left them to get changed, and another woman appeared to re-claim her child, Prince Loki and King Thor left the Penthouse. Other mortals arrived, and soon she was introduced to the predicament at hand.

When she was done examining the brunette human who insisted on her calling him Tony, she actually got involved into the medical discussion, into the planning, and at some point, the patient ended up with the infant in his arms, a new infusion with pain medication, and five surgeons and one Goddess were heatedly discussing a surgery plan.

When was the last time her profession had been this inspiring? Thrilling? Fulfilling? More than stitching up war wounds and sending fine men who should have rested at least for a while out into the battlefield again, or taking care that Odin did not meander too far to the other side during his more and more frequent Odin-sleep occurrences?

When was the last time she had been treated as an equal, as a person with an opinion that also mattered? She was the head healer, but that did not mean that she was an equal to any man at a comparable position on Asgard.

She marveled at the fact that the five doctors were friends, colleagues, competitors, at the same time, the woman who obviously just had given birth fighting tooth and nail with her _chief_ to participate in the surgery.

He did not talk down to her, remind her of her position.

"April, you can barely stand now, please, be reasonable, it's gonna be hours until we'll be done."

April pouted, but also nodded.

"I know. It's just so exciting."

They did not even realize the people who walked in on them. Thor wore a smile as he watched his head healer interacting with the human doctors. Bruce wore a frown at the pretty loud conversation that was going on.

Pepper and Loki checked the couch first.

Tony was still lying there, slightly propped up on a pillow, the arm on the outer side once more hooked up to an IV. His head was resting against the back of the sofa as he slept, his chest steadily rising and falling under soft breaths.

The baby's head was resting against his pectoral muscle, carefully cradled in his arm on his side facing the back of the couch. She looked so tiny against the engineer, and now that she had dealt with S.H.I.E.L.D. and all the mess of the past days, managing to vent some of her (in her mind justified) aggressions with Steve Rogers as target, Pepper allowed herself to quietly coo over her husband, letting her murderous mindset go, finally.

"Please, J.A.R.V.I.S., tell me you've got pictures of this."

The AI affirmed as she walked over to the living room, losing her shoes on the way there as she knelt down next to the couch, softly kissing Tony's forehead.

He snorted, opening his eyes to squint against the brightness of the room, blinking a few times before he turned his head, focusing on his spouse.

"Oh… hey Peps… how're you?"

She smiled, pecking his lips before she answered.

"I'm fine. That baby suits you, you know?"

"Yah, my arm's fallen asleep, though. You wanna hold her for a while? Mommy over there is getting off on my heart in the moment."

Loki watched them, somehow expecting the woman to decline the offer, she always looked so neat and collected, so… clean, and this was something that could change pretty fast when holding an infant.

On the other hand, after having witnessed her down there in the conference room, chewing out both Nicolas Fury _and_ Captain Amerika, reducing both of them to scolded school boys, at some point so angry that a special tone was infiltrating her usually likewise neat and sophisticated speech, making her sound like a peasant.

Little did he know that Virginia Potts had a _lot_ of experience in baby-sitting, and that did not only include genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropists. There were few other jobs you could get as a 14 year old, after all. Actually, he should have worried more about Tony's abilities in this field, but according to both Owen and April, he was a natural, and they would show him what to do once little Alexis would wake up.

Pepper scooped up the child with a movement that spoke of years of experience and settled down on the floor again, watching the sleeping babe's face.

"Oh, you're such a cutie. You do have your Daddy's hair", she cooed, caressing the soft dark feathers. Keeping her forefinger running against the soft skin of the baby's cheek, she turned her head to her spouse again.

"How far are they?" she asked, addressing the discussing mob of doctors at the holodesk.

Tony shrugged. "I guess they're done, J.A.R.V.I.S. already started manufacturing. They are talking eventualities, mostly, and worry about the skin grafts. I may end up with a permanent scar on my ass because of that. I'm also flying in the baby-Daddy, he seems to be the God of plastic surgery, and before you ask, April's ok with that."

Pepper leaned closer, resting her head against his shoulder.

"You know that I don't care about scars. Did you eat already?"

"Nope, we were waiting for you guys. J.A.R.V.I.S. can order something. How'd it go down there, Peps?"

This time it was Pepper who shrugged.

"Well. I guess I just did perform a hostile takeover of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Uh, tell me more. Did Fury's head explode?"

* * *

Pepper had already been down in the conference room for two hours, having three lawyers from the SI legal department with her as she discussed the current problems with President Ellis and the heads of every secret or not so secret agency other than S.H.I.E.L.D. J.A.R.V.I.S. could get his hands on, before Thor arrived.

The men were just as pissed by the behavior the rather small agency was displaying, and had taken some action in the past few days, also addressing legal consequences the invasion of New York should have.

After all, the World Security Council had ordered a _nuclear first strike_ on American soil. This was definitely something that could not be left unpunished.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was once more trying to confiscate SI property, which would also be addressed, not that the CIA or NSA or Homeland Security would care about it. J.A.R.V.I.S. announced just then that Thor had arrived with yet another guest and was now heading towards the conference room together with _Master_ Loki, and that they would arrive together with the Agents Barton and Romanoff, as well as Dr. Banner, Mr. Fandral, and Mr. Holmes.

Pepper simply smiled at Loki and nodded as he entered the room, making all of the people share an astonished look as he simply vanished into nothing.

Nick Fury and Steve Rogers looked slightly disoriented as they materialized in the room, while the lawyers shuffled a bit to make space for the Gods that chose to flank their boss, Loki sliding into the place on her right with Fandral next to him, while Thor sat down on her other side. The door opened another time, revealing a rather confused James Rhodes who stalked in and pulled out one of the chairs after nodding his hello, knowing that it was better to not mess with Potts, considering the look she was throwing at the newcomers.

Also the other people in the room took their places, throwing expectant glances at the two men who had just appeared.

"What the…"

"Please, sit down, Mr. Fury. There are many things we have to discuss. And you will find that I'm rather bad tempered after you threatened my employees today." Pepper said, her voice calm and steady, blue eyes coldly staring at the other man.

"What the..." Fury tried again, once more being interrupted.

"I said: Sit. Down. I already rang a President and certain other people who are more important than you out of bed today, and we will end your solo attempts in destroying our planet now. Since S.H.I.E.L.D. exists it has been playing with forces beyond their ken, and you don't even care that you don't have a clue what you are doing. You keep blaming everyone else but your organization for things that went wrong, and you tried to put all the guilt for the invasion on Loki, when it was your dilettantish tinkering with the Tesseract that enabled Thanos and _the Other_ to target our planet in the first place."

Fury straightened his posture. He had wanted to complain about the mode of transportation by a wanted criminal, but now it was leading to something he was not prepared for. Somebody was confronting him, forcing him to take responsibility for his deeds and he had to defend himself.

"Erik Selvig is a very capable expert for…"

"Erik Selvig currently has admitted himself to the Manhattan Psychiatric Center and is being treated against delusions. And he was not the most stable person already before _the Other_ messed with his mind. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s experiments were not agreed upon by anyone, you opened the floodgates for an alien invasion, and did not even think about informing any other authorities, and according to Phil, you are still part of the US government. Now, sit down."

Fury flinched at the mentioning of that name, staring at Potts as her unwavering gaze rested on him. After adjusting his coat, he finally took his seat right next to one of the lawyers.

"The same holds true for you, Mr. Rogers", she said, eyes wandering to the other man as she cocked her head. "Please. Have a seat."

Steve simply crossed his arms. "It's _Captain_ Rogers, and I don't see how you are in any position to tell me what to do. Where is Stark, anyway? This can't be that important if he's letting his _secretary_ taking care of it", he spat.

The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees as not only Pepper directed an icy glance at the super-soldier.

"Oh, I never knew it was beneath your dignity to confer with the lowly folks, _Captain_. It must be truly disturbing to speak to me, that humble, tiny secretary, who is trying to playing with the big, important people, while you know that the only reason that Tony keeps me around is that I don't have a gag reflex. After all, that's what Howard did all the time, am I right? If you know one Stark, you know 'em all."

Steve just frowned at her, and blushed furiously when he finally got her innuendo and then opened his mouth to defend himself. After all, he never thought this lowly of other people. And Howard Stark was his friend. How dare…?!

"Sit down, Mr. Rogers, because what we will discuss will take longer."

"I don't even know what you want to discuss. We have to prepare for…"

" _Mr. Rogers._ I have a very short temper today. Sit down, or you an' me will find out what I remember from living 18 years on a farm in Nebraska, hogtying and castrating bulls!" Thor and Fandral looked pretty confused after that threat, while all the other men in the room or on the screens cringed. Romanoff was trying to hide a grin, and Loki _finally_ understood the thing with the family jewels and also tried to keep a neutral expression.

Steve huffed, falling into a chair next to Fury.

Pepper folded her hands.

"Alright. As I said, we have a few things that should be discussed. First of all, S.H.I.E.L.D. will not continue the way it is. The organization has been operating without any control, and don't even try to mention the World Security Council. They ordered a nuclear strike against an American city and are being dealt with appropriately as we are talking."

This meant that the members had been arrested already the day after the invasion when the SI legal department had started to work its magic. They were to be tried for high treason, and currently trying to lament their way out of it.

"Therefore, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be joined with the Department of Homeland Security. Once Agent Coulson has recovered from his injuries he will be the Director, should he choose to accept the offer. If he does not, we will find another solution. I expect you to hand in your resignation, Mr. Fury. You will not be part of that new organization."

Before the, as it seemed former, Director could say anything, Clint piped up, looking at the other man.

"Coulson? But… but you said…?"

All eyes were directed at Pepper now.

"Oh. So nobody told you. It is really a good thing that you never bothered to update your firewalls, and if you did, you always relied on Tony. J.A.R.V.I.S. has found so many useful things, so much information, so many secrets… it needs so many people that now have to clean up your messes, Fury, your ignorance has caused the downfall of what was once a good idea."

Turning to Clint and Natasha, she continued.

"Coulson is alive. When Loki told us that he was aiming for non-vital organs, we had J.A.R.V.I.S. do some research. Obviously, the Chitauri are not the first aliens to come to our planet. If you want to know more, ask for the T.A.H.I.T.I. files. It won't be a nice lecture, I'm afraid."

"So Stark is accusing S.H.I.E.L.D. of what? Treason? Keeping some secrets? What is it?"

"Tony doesn't accuse S.H.I.E.L.D. of anything. That's not how he works. For him, it is over, he's moved on. I, on the other hand, I am a little more resentful. You have willingly put the owner of Stark Industries, my head of R&D, my _husband,_ in danger. You tried to confiscate SI property, and yes, the Helicarrier is _mine_ because _I_ paid for it. You have IT people trying to hack J.A.R.V.I.S., trying to hack the files that exist for the helicarrier and every other technology Stark Industries, no, Tony Stark, has ever developed. You have tried multiple times to get your hands on Iron Man. So far, we defended our property. Now, you will stop trying to steal it. And before you start lamenting that I don't have any say in that: _I_ am paying your bills. Stark Industries is your one and only investor, and the only reason we are not completely shutting you down is that we need an governmental authorities for all these alien stuff, and I talked Tony out of funding the _Men in Black_. SI will keep funding S.H.I.E.L.D. It will be supervised. SI intellectual property will stay SI intellectual property."

Loki was observing the woman next to him as she destroyed the man sitting next to her lawyers who were successfully hiding their need to gloat as they handed out documents that had been signed by S.H.I.E.L.D. authorities, stating that Stark Industries was providing them with technology, which was part of funding the agency, but they did not own it. More or less, SI owned S.H.I.E.L.D., and now it was time for some personnel changes.

Nick Fury had turned visibly grey under the icy blue gaze that rested on him. He could have lived with Stark staying a consultant, with Stark paying the bills. They had already replaced Iron Man with War Machine, S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists were investigating the suit in the moment, trying to figure out how the reactor worked. That was also why Rhodes had not been with them in Norfolk. They needed someone who knew how the suit functioned, after all.

As if she had been reading his mind, the redhead started talking again.

"This also includes War Machine, or the Iron Patriot. The suit is nothing more than MARK III with a paint job, which has been stolen by Colonel Rhodes, and which we have not demanded back up to now. Do you really think we have now means to get our property back? Tell me, Mr. Fury, how does analyzing the suit go in the moment?"

Fury just growled. It wasn't going at all in the moment, because those fucking scientists were too enamored with whatever technology from SI they could get their hands on, so that most of the equipment in the labs was just running on that: Stark Technology. And that was not working anymore since they'd been cut off and Stark's fucking AI was playing God.

"Since Colonel Rhodes has been made a member of the Avengers Initiative, and MARK III is rather outdated, we will not demand it back unless you give us a reason to do so. Since J.A.R.V.I.S. is in constant contact with the incorporated AI, we will know what you are doing with the suit, so you better stop trying to copy it, Tony has patents for every screw that is used in it."

Rhodes swallowed, Fury growled again. The rest of the people in the room, excluding the attorneys, by now had started wondering why exactly they were here. It was nice witnessing Fury being taken down a peg or 8. But you did not need a President and the heads of three different agencies for that.

"Good. So, now that we sorted this out, let's come to the important things. As I said, J.A.R.V.I.S. found a lot of interesting, and, quite frankly, also alarming things in the S.H.I.E.L.D. system. J.A.R.V.I.S. was so nice to summarize the most urgent occurrences. I suggest we start with why nobody realized that H.Y.D.R.A. is still active, has infiltrated almost every instance in S.H.I.E.L.D., and why the bad guys are so stupid to leave evidence on the agency servers. I suppose the federal agents are hard at work now weeding them out?"

One of the men on the screens affirmed that, starting on a rather detailed report, that had Nick Fury paling even further, especially when he revealed details about the Wintersoldier who turned out to be one of Rogers comrades and his best friend, and the true circumstances of Howard and Maria Stark's deaths.

Loki once more observed the Lady Pepper during the commotion that arose now. Her jaw was set, though she did not seem surprised by the news. The Trickster leaned closer to her as Rogers jumped up, yelling at Nick Fury why nobody had bothered to tell him that his friend was still alive.

"Anthony does not yet know about this development, am I correct?"

"Nope. And we will not tell him until after the surgery."

"But you knew."

"J.A.R.V.I.S. found it and asked whether he should tell Tony. We decided that it could wait. He'll be angry at me, that's for sure, but…"

"Friend Tony has more important things to worry about in the moment", Thor whispered next to them, before clearing his throat so loudly that everybody was looking at him.

"I believe that the Lady Pepper and Mr. Johnson were not finished. Please, you should reclaim your seats and behave civilized. I have a realm to rule, my time is valuable, and I do not intend to waste it by listening to some angry little men arguing."

The entire room was staring at Thor now, who just cocked his head.

"Or, as friend Tony would say: Get going, people, I don't have all day!"

Pepper sent a soft smile his way as he quoted her husband before reminding herself that she had not yet left him off the hook.

Fandral grinned. Who would have thought that Thor, the master of escaping any court meeting, the God of Thunder whose plans consisted of throwing his hammer and swinging his fists, would once insist on continuing a conference without complaining or trying to get out of it?

Loki leaned back in his chair and pressed the tips of his fingers together, suppressing a smile. Who would have thought…

* * *

"H.Y.D.R.A., hmm?" Tony asked when she had finished telling him about the first hour of their meeting (sans the death of his parents), just as J.A.R.V.I.S. announced that their food had arrived and was sent up in the elevator. Bruce got up from the couch to set the table, followed by Fandral, Thor and Loki.

J.A.R.V.I.S. minimized the screens at the holodesk, informing the doctors once more that they would be eating soon and should join the others at the dining table.

April Kepner turned to the living room, frowning a little at herself that she had left her daughter in the care of a stranger, more or less, while discussing how to fix Tony Stark. But he had not minded holding her, and both of them had been sleeping the last time she checked on them, and it had been sooo cute.

She had not heard the other people entering the Penthouse, or that anyone had ordered food. Alexis by now was in the arms of Stark Industry's CEO who had moved from the floor onto the couch, leaning against Tony who had sat up and had put his free arm around Pepper.

The engineer was smiling as his wife caressed the infant's cheek again.

"You're hiding something from me", he said then, softly. "Both you and J.A.R.V.I.S.."

Pepper leaned her head against his shoulder.

"We will tell you… after…"

"After they fixed me?"

Pepper nodded.

"That bad?" he asked, resting his cheek against her head.

She simply nodded again, her eyes trained on the sleeping baby.

He turned a bit, kissing her hair.

"Okay. C'mon, Mrs. Stark, Mommy wants her kiddo back, and I'm hungry. Hey, Jarv, what did you order?"

While they both got up and J.A.R.V.I.S. informed his inventor of his choice of nutrition for today's lunch, Pepper returned the shy greeting from the woman in the fluffy bathrobe before handing over the baby.

"She is very sweet. You should lock her away, we might want to steal her."

April smiled, quickly looking at Tony who was untangling the hoses from his infusion before grabbing the IV pole.

"We might have mutual feelings concerning J.A.R.V.I.S.."

Tony laughed at that, his free hand once more wandering to his chest.

"Yeah, J.A.R.V.I.S. is the best."

His hand moved down to his side again, before he held it out to his wife.

"Mrs. Stark, take me to lunch. Hehe, look, I am able to eat at regular times."

Pepper smiled sadly when she reached out to take it. Yes, he was. In the moment, though, she would give everything for him being able to go on science binges and needing J.A.R.V.I.S. to remind him that he was not able to run on motor oil. She turned to April again, or she would have started crying, and she still felt bad about losing it in front of Loki and Thor the day before.

"Sam's bed is still in Owen's room, and J.A.R.V.I.S. can watch her, if you would like to eat with us."

April nodded and moved into the direction that the artificial intelligence pointed out.

Tony laughed at the confused faces of four Asgardians as Cristina demonstrated how to eat these long noodles called Spaghetti, and Owen declared loudly that, no, you did not eat them noodle by noodle and had to slurp them in.

Pepper started laughing at the faces they made when her brother demonstrated wrapping the pasta around his fork, and Bruce protested sonorously when Fandral asked why they could not simply cut it into small pieces, surprisingly being supported by Dr. Torres.

"Have you ever seen Sofia when she tries to eat them like that? She has t-shirts that are permanently stained with sauce, and I still have no clue how she gets it in her hair. It's just faster and way cleaner when you cut them up."

With that she stood up, moving into the kitchen.

"Callie…"

"Nope, I'm getting knives for Mr. God and me… you can go on wrappin', 'm not stopping you."

"You seriously wanna cut up pasta from a world-renowned Italian restaurant and…"

"And I'll eat it with a spoon. Live with it, Honey, I eat pizza straight from the box, I eat Nutella straight from the glass, and sometimes I drink my milk from the package. Come on, you've been married to Cristina, you should be used to it." The curvy orthopedist smiled at him while she opened the drawer J.A.R.V.I.S. had pointed out. Cristina already had her mouth full and mumbled a "Hey!" around her food.

Tony squeezed Pepper's hand as they wandered over to them.

"You know, I like this crazy bunch of people…"

She smiled, stealing a kiss.

"Me too. Come on, let's eat."


	19. Sweep away this shroud of white

_**Chapter 19: Sweep away this shroud of white**_

 _I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. (Albert Einstein)_

* * *

Steve Rogers always thought that there was not a lot anymore that could surprise him. Especially after waking up in the 21st century and everything that had happened in the past few days. He tended to forget that he was 24 when he was frozen. Even during the Depression you had not really lived at 24.

And to be honest, getting out of that chamber, being almost a foot taller and twice as heavy as he had been before were not as weird as what had happened in the past days. After all, he had only had to deal with Dr. Erskine's invention and Howard Stark's… Starkness.

He felt sorry almost immediately after lashing out on Miss Potts, or, more correctly, Mrs. Stark, who was everything _but_ a secretary as he learned during the meeting. He did not lash out at pretty women, and he had learned long ago that they could stand their ground, most of the time better than any man, because, in the end they had to be better, simply because of the fact that they were women.

And that's what she did, her crude comment making him shut up and sit down almost immediately.

He would have to apologize to her later.

She was efficient, and organized, handling the politicians and agents in the room just as well as the Asgardians who were flanking her. Her lawyers did strike faster than the widow could.

It was very clear that it was not the President of the United States that was the most powerful person in this room.

His stomach started cramping at the revelations that were made in the following, the woman at the end of the table demanding reports from the leaders of the different agencies, and it seemed like all of them had been good boys and had had a busy few days to do their homework.

Phil Coulson was still alive.

While the world had gone bonkers over Tony Stark getting married, the authorities had been weeding out what they could after receiving evidence who was part of H.Y.D.R.A. and who wasn't. Starting with the Secretary to the World Security council Alexander Pierce, and ending with the foot-soldiers of S.H.I.E.L.D. there were very few people that would remain within this organization.

It did not stop at that, though. Senators and Judges, police superintendents and other people in high positions were arrested. Crimes were unveiled that had only served to destabilize the world. People had been killed for the sole reason to let H.Y.D.R.A. grow.

Howard Stark had been murdered, together with his wife.

He lost it when they came to Arnim Zola, his consciousness on a computer at camp Lehigh that had been destroyed by an air strike the crazy scientist had ordered himself before he could be poked at, a loss that, secretly, J.A.R.V.I.S. was bemoaning. After all, this consciousness had been transferred to a computer, something not only the A.I would want to look into, but it also had picked out the various targets that needed to be eliminated or taken into hold to ensure the highest level of chaos, his creator and his wife amongst them.

Bucky.

They authorized making a weapon out of his best friend and nobody cared.

He knew that Fury was cold and ruthless, but how unconscionable had a person to be to let something like this happen? He was the _director_ of S.H.I.E.L.D., how could these things slip under his radar?!

He did not even care that somewhere along the way he somewhat lost his title of _Captain_ because somebody mentioned that Steven Grant Rogers officially never made it past _Private_ in the Army.

It was Thor who interrupted them in the same manner that Stark had used at the first debrief after the invasion, even using the same words, making Mrs. Stark smile sadly.

Rogers caught Loki's worried look that rested on the woman turn into an amused one as he watched his brother.

The CEO of Stark Industries leaned back in her chair, her hands mirroring the gesture that Loki had assumed by now, the tips of his fingers pressed together.

"Are you done? Good. Let's talk about _Project Insight._ "

When she was done explaining what _Project Insight_ was, when all of the attempts of getting Stark's technology, of copying and bastardizing it finally started making sense, Steve Rogers was as pale as all the other people in the conference room who were staring unbelievingly at the list of subjects that were supposed to be terminated.

Pepper explained that they would have to show Tony the weapons that were supposed to identify their targets by their DNA after Gabriel Holmes vehemently denied having any part in their construction.

While Fury was threatening SI personnel at the dockyards in Norfolk, H.Y.D.R.A. tried to build three more helicarriers, aided by people who had been trusted, who had been working together with Stark Industries on the first one.

People who would be sued until the only thing they had left would be a cardboard-box to live in after the SI legal department and the US government were done with them. If they were not strung up for high treason.

Rogers found his own name on the list of people that needed to be killed. Along with most of the Avengers. Stark's name was missing, Potts' name was there, though.

Obviously, H.Y.D.R.A. had had further plans with the inventor, after all they still needed technology and money. And he should provide it, if he wanted or not.

By the time they had come to these revelations Steve had started thinking if it wouldn't have been better if they had left him in the Arctic, on ice, oblivious to all the bad in the world, and how it had just gotten worse in the past 70 years because someone had thought hiring Arnim Zola instead of getting rid of him was a good idea. He definitely did not know how to deal with these things.

No, when the meeting ended, Steve Rogers was painfully aware of the many things he did not know about this time, this world. Obviously, it was not only the armies anymore that won battles. Pepper Potts sicked her lawyers on the respective people and they tore into them like attack dogs, taking no prisoners.

Only very few people knew how much they relied on the AI that pulled strings in the background to accomplish all of this in such a short amount of time.

* * *

Darcy Lewis had used the morning to sleep in, knowing that Thor had gone back to Asgard overnight and Jane was having science-gasms over whatever Tony let her play with. Darcy had dragged her into bed yesterday but her hopes were very low that the astrophysicist had actually stayed there.

At some point she just could not sleep anymore, though, and reached out for her bag that contained what little possessions she had, dragging out a well-worn copy of Robert Heinlein's _Stranger in a strange land_. She had read the novel so many times now, and yet, it was still traveling with her, just like another, just as beat-up and dog-eared, copy of _It._

After a quick trip into the bathroom, and another not so quick trip into the kitchen on the floor the guestrooms were situated at, she settled back into the very comfortable bed in this very comfortable room, and dug into her breakfast consisting out of some paprika chips and strawberry yoghurt she had found, before she dove into the world of her favorite Martian.

It had been a few hours that she had spent in that room, only interrupted once by J.A.R.V.I.S. who asked if she wanted him to play some music, as she kept humming different melodies while munching on her chips, most probably getting crumps all over the bedding.

It would still be more comfortable than the field cots she usually slept on when she was away with Jane.

She intrigued the AI by asking for artists that would have been on _Sir's_ favorite playlist and he compiled something that made the young woman smile before turning back to her book.

When J.A.R.V.I.S. informed her that the Avengers and all the other people currently occupying the guest floor were heading up, and Dinner had been ordered, she used an already well-used dog-ear on her book, marking the page she just had read before climbing out of the warm cave that was her bed and dug around in her bag for some clean jeans and a pullover.

"Is Thor also there?" she asked, hoping that the big guy would join them. After all, not only Jane had missed him, and Darcy had too few friends that she relished every single one of them, even if they had been out of contact for over two years.

" _I am afraid that King Thor has accompanied Master Loki and Master Fandral, together with Dr. Banner up to the Penthouse. I can take you there, if you wish…"_

"Nah, J, it's ok. Can you let Jane know that there's gonna be food, and if she doesn't show up in ten minutes I will do this thing with her ear and drag her here? You can quote me, she'll know what I mean."

The Artificial Intelligence sounded amused as he told her that he would inform Dr. Foster.

Padding out of her room barefoot she was greeted with the sight of a rather sullen group of people, sitting around the table, looking quite lost to be honest. She did not know the dark skinned man who sat right next to Captain America, looking as down as all the others.

"Hey, is everything alright? Did something happen to Tony?" she asked, only now remembering how the engineer had collapsed the day before, and how her elevator-acquaintance and the redhead hottie doctor had been taking care of him.

" _Sir is fine, Miss Lewis. Please, do not worry._ " J.A.R.V.I.S. piped up before anyone could say something. Everyone but Captain Rogers, Agent Romanoff, and James Rhodes had been in the Penthouse the day before, joining their movie marathon, so they knew the inventor was not at his peak of health, but as well as he could be, and had people, hell, highly specialized doctors, taking care of him.

"How… how is he, J.A.R.V.I.S.?" the guy she didn't know asked, sounding very demure as he addressed the AI.

" _Sir requires medical attention as we speak due to a fractured sternum, Mr. Rhodes."_ This was common knowledge to at least three people in the room, so J.A.R.V.I.S. saw no point in lying. Rhodes frowned. Obviously the AI had decided to demote him. Before, he had always been _Colonel Rhodes_.

"But he has a bunch of kickass doctors up there, so he'll be fine in no time. Come on, don't be so dumpish, you just saved the world from some megalomaniac aliens and these large-ass whale-thingies!"

It was Captain America who was leaning back on his seat, folding his hands in his lap.

"It may need some more saving, and it was easier to distinguish the Leviathans from the good guys than distinguishing everyone that's H.Y.D.R.A. from the good guys…"

Darcy wiggled herself in between the group of downcast super heroes and the cutie with the glasses, grabbing one of the boxes that contained… uh, Spaghetti!, sat down with one leg folded underneath her but and looked expectantly into the round, her fork ready to dig into her food.

"Okay, tell Mama Darcy what's wrong. And don't start with _governmental secrets_ or whatever, because then I'll ask J.A.R.V.I.S. Did you know that S.H.I.E.L.D. is still holding my iPod and my taser hostage? For two years now! Those things are expensive and money's not growing on trees!" The AI for sure would show solidarity with it's siblings.

The black widow tried to stop the men from spilling the beans several times, after all, this was a civilian, here!

She stopped when J.A.R.V.I.S. joined the discussion, subtly making clear that he would answer all of Miss Lewis' questions if they weren't. Soon enough, all of the people around the table started eating, as well as talking, and also ranting about what they had just heard.

By the time they had finished their meal, the mood was certainly better and the boys (and the black widow) started making plans, and Darcy only nearly jumped out of her skin when J.A.R.V.I.S. addressed her again.

" _Miss Lewis? Sir would like to talk to you."_

* * *

Thor did not really know how he ended up in the little shop that was called _Starbucks_ together with the Lady Darcy. He remembered seeing her descend the stairs from the upper level in the Penthouse, looking rather pale (or… paler, she had a really fair skin complexion, very similar to Loki's, now that he thought about it) and overwhelmed.

He did not remember abandoning his food to catch up with her to figure out what was wrong, his movement followed by the gazes of almost everybody in the room. Dr. Hunt had gotten up to help Friend Tony back down into the living room, while Loki just briefly looked up from his tablet with the book he was reading in the moment.

He did not remember exactly how it came to being equipped with human money, the order to change into some normal clothes and the directions to said Starbucks in the neighborhood of the tower by the Lady Pepper.

The _King of Asgard_ did not even think about complaining, left his still half-full plate behind and joined Darcy, who was smiling shyly and also did not dare to refuse. One did not refuse anything Pepper Po… Stark asked one to do. Especially if your name was Thor and you still were somewhat in the doghouse because she figured out that you were not always the nicest person to your own brother.

And now he was sitting here, his fingers closed around a disgustingly sweet concoction that was called a caramel latte, together with a triple chocolate muffin of which Darcy was already peeling the paper off and sinking her teeth into.

She ate it without saying a word, and Thor was still busy licking the milk out of his beard when she leaned back, eyeing his muffin, and laughing when he protectively curled his hand around it. He intended eating this, he had never had a muffin before!

It made her laugh just a little bit more, before taking a sip of her beverage, and before starting to talk.

* * *

Georges Hautecourt was sitting next to her. And if her ears were not still ringing from what she had been told only seconds before, she would have found it funny and made some cracks.

 _Your mother, Deborah Lewis, born on the 5_ _th_ _of July in 1965 indeed worked as a secretary for Howard Stark and was fired on the 2_ _nd_ _of February in 1987 after claiming that the child she was carrying was Mr. Stark's._

That had been roughly five months before she was born.

And it was absolutely not what she had expected to happen when J.A.R.V.I.S. had told her that Tony wanted to see her.

The engineer had been sitting on the couch again, his army of doctors still sitting in the dining area and discussing sutures and instruments. Thor and Fandral were still eating, but nodding her way. She had spotted the baby in the arms of the woman with the auburn hair who was discussing just as eagerly and would have made a beeline for it, had Tony not addressed her and the Demigod sitting next to him.

"Hey, there you are. Peps and Winston are already upstairs in the office. Lo?" The engineer just lifted his hand in the other man's direction, and Loki, who had been reading something on a Stark Pad took it without further thought to help Tony get up, as if he had done just that numerous times in the past two days.

The God helped Stark to take the stairs, followed by a Darcy who felt like she was ordered to come to the headmaster's office, and then discretely left them _._ The sight of Pepper Potts and that old man who looked like he just escaped from the _Aristocats_ did not help at all to get rid of that feeling. Darcy Lewis always had had a loose gab. She'd spent her fair time sitting in front of and in principals' offices.

Never had anyone dropped a bomb like that on her, though.

She stared at the other three people in the room, and did not really know what to say. What did you say in a situation like this?

 _Yay, my Daddy's popular?_

 _Crap, so my Dad's even more a deadbeat than my mother was?_

 _Oh, so for once Mommy did not lie?_

That thought made her hold her breath. How many times had her mother told her that she did know her father, that it was not some random John she took home to make enough money for her next shot, but that famous dead guy?

How many times had she wanted to believe, had hoped her father, a knight in shining armor (and maybe not as dead as Mommy proclaimed), would come and take her out of this living hell her mother had managed to create, revolving more around drugs and money than caring for her child?

She had not looked back after emancipating herself at the age of 16, moving out of this hellhole, never regretted it. The last thing she had asked her mother was why she couldn't just stop lying.

She had not even attended the funeral. When she finished high school her grades had been good enough to apply for scholarships, and what those did not pay she earned waiting tables in a Diner. She'd always been interested in politics, so she studied political sciences, she got accepted al Culver, for gosh sake, so she moved there and was looking for another job. She still did not really know how she ended up with Jane… at first, it had been looking for something else than being a waitress, after all, she did not get credits for that.

When Jane had stopped paying her, had started merely providing her with what she needed for living while she followed her around the world for hunting weird phenomena had somehow escaped her.

"Miss Lewis?"

Darcy just kept staring ahead at Tony when Pepper addressed her, not hearing the worry in the other woman's tone. She just sat there, saying nothing, looking at, or rather trough, the man who was maybe her brother.

"Darcy", he said now, making her blink.

"Yes?" What did you say to the richest man on earth, to this creative mind and this funny guy who made everybody laugh even though he was injured and had to undergo surgery, and now maybe was her big broth... Oh…

"I… don't know what to say…", was what came out, and at least it was the truth, and Tony smiled softly.

"Well, that's better than what happened the last time. That guy demanded my company."

What?

"What?!"

Tony leaned back in his chair, looking at the confused young woman in front of him. Now, that he was really searching for them, he could make out a few of his father's features in the girl… the pointy nose, the short built, the slightly crooked ring-finger on the right hand. Of course he would insist on a test. He always did.

"I have three half-brothers and two half-sisters, Miss Lewis, all of them by far older than I am, Howard sired them back in the forties and fifties. Four of them have already passed away; the last one is living off the fat of the land in a retirement home in Florida from a fund I installed for him, telling everybody who wants or doesn't want to listen that he should have inherited Stark Industries and that I've been driving it to the ground since I took the helms. There have been many more claiming to be related to me, but either Howard learned to wrap it, or somebody's been faking the tests later on."

Tony sounded sad when he said that, but it also explained why the Disney-movie-look-a-like attorney was there.

"I don't want your money", Darcy spat, moving back a bit on the sofa, ready to get up when they would start to try and figure out how much her silence would cost. She bet that the other siblings had made quite a fortune, since they never turned up in the media. Or someone had made them sign some adhesion contract that made sure they would lose everything should they talk.

Of course she was aware of the paternity suits of one Tony Stark. They always made it to the media, because the proof that the kid in question was not his made the headlines each and every time.

She didn't want his money. And she did also not need it. Well, okay, there was a difference between wanting and needing… But she had always been able to take care of herself without selling her soul, so…

"Up to now I didn't even know that this might not just be a drug-induced delusion my Mom had… She used to be a bit… unreliable…", she continued, a bit softer now.

"We never assumed anything like that, Miss Lewis", Pepper said, her hand still resting on the back of the seat Loki had placed Tony in, opposite of the couch Darcy was sitting on. "J.A.R.V.I.S. just did some research after your statement yesterday and came up with these results, and we thought you should know. It is up to you whether we do a test to confirm that you are Howard Stark's daughter…"

"Or disprove it", Darcy interrupted the beautiful redhead in the business-costume that most probably cost more than she'd earned in a year when she still had been paid for her work. Three eye pairs narrowed at her when she proclaimed that, making her shrug. "Mommy was very generous with offering her genitalia to whoever was interested. And I definitely wouldn't put it beyond her wanting to frame your Dad. Sorry."

Winston Hibler wanted to speak up now. He had been there when the young secretary had confronted Howard. Or rather, he had been there at their second meeting, and still did not understand how a young, beautiful woman like Deborah Lewis could fall for an old fart like Howard Stark. But then, also Howard had had his good sides, and he was easy to get along with if he wanted to, and he had always been a natural charmer. After all, she was not the only one falling for him.

Howard wanted to buy his way out of it, didn't want to have to do anything with the child, couldn't she just get rid of it? He was having enough trouble with Anthony, Maria's parents had been powerful enough that he could not refuse marrying her without damaging his business, and all he got out of it was a woman who dragged him into the opera or the museum, and a kid that didn't know shit about chemistry, but was always tinkering around with some useless crap.

Winston used to be Howard's friend. That day, though, he only wanted to punch the other man. His son had just finished college and gotten accepted at the MIT without any help of his father at the age of not even 14, and Howard still ranted about the boy like he couldn't tell his ass from his elbow.

Deborah had declined the offer with a _Fuck you_. Actually, she had been a bit more colorful when she ripped the check in front of his eyes and cursed him before storming out of the office.

Howard had just shrugged and went off to buy a car.

Winston felt bad that he did not care enough to find out what had happened to the secretary afterwards.

"Can I leave now, please?" Darcy asked before the old man could say anything, and she sounded so small that not only the retired lawyer reached out for her. It was Pepper who managed to grasp her hand while she sat down next to her on the small black leather couch in her office.

"Listen, Darcy, we don't want anything from you, and you also don't have to do anything, if you don't want to. We… we just wanted to let you know that there was the possibility that you might be Tony's sister. Believe me, we also did not expect this to happen, and under different circumstances we also would have approached this differently… but…"

"But I'm getting my things in order before the surgery, should anything happen. And I do care for my family", Tony stated, while contemplating if he could get up without feeling like the reactor plus casing were pulled out.

Darcy nodded, green cat eyes locking first on Tony and his gentle smile, before wandering to Pepper. "Can… can I think about it for a while?" An _I need to get out of here and to the nearest Starbucks for the most disgustingly sweet coffee-mix drink they have and a chocolate-overdose-muffin while thinking about how this is my life?_ while…

"Oh God, how is this my life?" she actually groaned, running her hands through her hair.

Now Tony really tried to get up, grimacing while he did, making both women and Winston Hibler, who was still pretty agile for his age, jump up to make the engineer sit down again.

"Okay, okay, I get it that you really mean it, and don't just want to silence the cuckoo's egg. But… I really need some time, okay?" How many times had she said okay now? Gods, she was embarrassing herself in front of _Tony Stark_ …

"Yeah, I can get that. If anybody ever asked me I'd have preferred to be anyone but Howard Stark's son…"

She looked at him, how these beautiful hazel eyes darkened, how Pepper was at his side instantly, a hand on his shoulder, twitching to reach for his head, to caress through his hair. Howard Stark did not sound like a nice man.

"Is… is it okay if I let you know around Dinner time?" she asked, and she got three nods as answer.

"Take as much time as you need. As I said, we don't want to pressure you into anything."

* * *

"I do not see how this could be bad news for you", Thor said, ignoring the glance of an older woman at one of the tables next to them, clearly trying to figure out if he was just some random guy she had seen in some advertisement, or if he was the God from the news about the invasion some days ago.

He was rather picking up the last crumbs of his muffin up after licking his forefinger and briefly calculating that with the amount of money he had left from what the Lady Pepper had bestowed upon him, he could buy some more, and maybe even take some back to Asgard to have one of the cooks dissect and recreate it.

Chocolate was really a miracle.

Darcy watched him with a smile before sighing.

"It's not exactly bad news… but… but if it's true, then…"

Then she would have accused her mother of being a liar since the day she decided to not take anything for granted with her anymore. And that had been a pretty long time.

A large hand covered hers as she fidgeted with the wrapping paper of her long gone muffin, making her look up at the Thunderer.

"Your mother betrayed your trust enough times to make you wary of her words. And Friend Tony for sure will not hold it against you. He is selflessly helping my brother, and currently paying a high price for it. What does it hurt to take this test and find closure?"

Thor captured her fingers just a little longer, simply because he could, because there were not five court-ladies and one lord steward harrumphing the second things turned unbecoming in their eyes. Squeezing her hand one last time he let go, never ceasing his smile.

"Would you care for another muffin? And do they also serve coffee that does taste of coffee in this establishment?"

She was laughing about that and told him that in a situation like this, you could not have enough chocolate. She ended up drinking his caramel latte while he charmed the barista into making him some _real_ coffee.

When he came back to their table, they switched topics, and Thor started wondering when he had ever had a conversation like this with a woman. Well, okay, there was Jane, but it always cumulated in her catechizing him about the Bifrost or the nine realms and what he knew about the universe.

Sif only ever wanted to talk about sparring, and their adventures.

The few ladies he courted always talked about… when he was honest, most of them simply made small talk and didn't really have anything to say.

With Darcy he discussed how his armor was sometimes long-sleeved, and sometimes short-sleeved and why he chose red as his color. He promised he would take her horseback riding because she had never been close to a horse before, if she would show him how to ride a bike.

They discussed a man named Abraham Lincoln and another man named Martin Luther King, and slaves, and racism, and democracy and Thor could not remember another time when he willingly talked about political topics and did not want to run away screaming. They managed to eat another four muffins (okay, so he annihilated three and a half…), and Darcy was sure she would not be able to sleep this night because of the amount of coffee she had

He was proud of himself when they left the Starbucks with a smile on Darcy's face and a decision. And maybe a massive sugar overdose.

In contrast to his struggles with the members of the court on Asgard in the past few days, he actually felt like he had accomplished something in the last few hours.

* * *

Pepper rested her head once more against Tony's shoulder as she was rearranging their blanket around herself. The afternoon had been rather uneventful after Darcy and Thor had left the tower. As had been Dinner. Except for the fact that Tony was not allowed to eat because he had to be sober for the surgery the next day. Not that he was eating much, anyway. At least it was more regular than normally, but she wanted to see him digging into a cheeseburger again, and not picking at some pasta or vegetables…

Dr. Kepner's ex-husband had arrived, yet they had missed the scene of them re-uniting and Jackson Avery meeting his daughter for the first time. He had looked rather shaken when Owen and Tony had met him to examine the casing and how it had been fixed to skin and bones. But he also proved that he did more than boob- and nose-jobs or liposuctions, instantly recommending different techniques and sutures should he have to keep the reactor. He also assured the inventor that he would _not_ end up with a permanent scar on his ass to get enough skin for the transplants.

Tony had made it very clear that if he had to keep the reactor, he wanted it accessible, so it could be exchanged should the need arise, without cutting him open. It had gotten him a lot of frowns.

When the plastic surgeon was introduced to Eír and what was her job during this operation, he thought everybody was bullshitting him. Loki by then had introduced Fandral to the wonders of Candy Crush and both were happily playing away on the couch.

Dr. Yang and Dr. Torres had made fun of Pepper for playing matchmaker for the Thundergod and the busty intern in the meantime, having Fandral and Loki contradict the two women. After all, Thor and Jane were meant to be, right?

Pepper had just smiled at that and shared a long look with her husband. Jane was hiding away behind her computer, dissecting the data Tony's suit had collected during its brief stint in the void. Thor was not really trying to coax her away from it.

Jane had rather slapped him because he dared to have no way to return to her, instead of being happy that he was safe and sound, and back.

Darcy had been happy. Overjoyed. She literally jumped the God of Thunder.

Thor had dropped everything when he saw her coming out of Pepper's office, and brought back a smiling Darcy who said she'd thought about everything and would take the DNA test.

"Stop movin', Potts, 'm tryin' ta sleep here", Tony grouched next to her, hooked up to another bag of pain medication, and something else that would keep the anxiety at bay.

Pepper wished that her brother would also give her something, but she had not even asked because of the baby. Either a pill, or a time machine. A time machine would really be appreciated. A time machine and an arc reactor to blow up and somebody to throw Nick Fury and the collective of S.H.I.E.L.D.R.A. (oh, wow, this was definitely a name that Tony normally would come up with) in there before any of them could hurt her Tony.

She buried her forehead even deeper against his side, unaware of the belly deep sigh that escaped her.

It made Tony sigh in turn.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., switch on the lamp on my bedside table."

Blinking against the light he turned his head to face her. She had wrapped both of her arms around his free arm to not put any strain on his chest, and was still fighting with the blanket.

"Pepper…"

Her face was hidden by her hair, a strawberry blonde curtain obscuring her face, her forehead still poised against his shoulder.

"Peps, it's gonna be ok. Tomorrow around this time I'll be packing for Asgard, I'll prove that Loki's innocent, come back, and then we'll have our honeymoon far, far away from every paparazzo that might be lurking around. Maybe we can go skinny dipping somewhere without pictures of my dick appearing in the internet two minutes later."

This actually made her laugh, shaking against his biceps.

"C'mon, Peps, scoot up a bit."

She did loosen her grip on him when her head turned, and he took that chance to slip it free and maneuver it around her, drawing her closer to his side.

"Your brother wrapped me in six layers of bandages, I don't know how much tape he used to keep the reactor in place, and I'm high as a kite here. You won't hurt me by hugging me. Now put that arm over my belly, drop that gorgeous head of yours on my shoulder and sleep, wife! Everything's gonna work out, I already promised you at least 50 years, and I do keep my promises, right?"

Reluctantly, she laid her head against his shoulder, then shuffled closer to his clavicle because the former position had been uncomfortable. All of a sudden the blanket was not a problem anymore as her body melted against his. Positioning her arm on his lower belly, her hand flattening against the hard muscles underneath the shirt he was wearing was only natural.

"Have you decided to become an optimist in your old days?" she then asked, still weary. Until now, life always had been a rollercoaster, and she feared that at one point they would run out of luck.

Tony huffed. "Please, none of us is an optimist. You're a realist, mostly, and I just take what's thrown at me. But I know that a simple surgery won't off me. I'll either go as your old fart, quietly, in my sleep, or in a blaze of glory. And I don't know how much of our world will be left then to tell the story."

Pepper just snuggled closer.

"That better be true. Or I'll find a way to bring you back and make your life a living hell. You will be on diaper-duty for the rest of your life!"

Tony actually laughed at that. "Peps, I'll take over diaper-duty from now until the end of the universe if it means I can stay with you. I just don't know how amused a 35-year old Junior will be if Daddy's coming by for a nappy-change."

They both were laughing quietly now, and Tony was resting his cheek against the top of Pepper's head.

"It'll work out. You'll see."

After she had stopped fidgeting next to him and they had J.A.R.V.I.S. switch off the light again, Tony fell asleep rather quickly. Pepper just lay there, listening to his breathing, to his heartbeat she could hear in his chest, her stomach tightened into a knot of fear.

She did not know when she finally closed her eyes, but the morning and J.A.R.V.I.S.'s gentle voice that woke them would come far too early, and all she wanted to do was scream at somebody for the injustice of life in general.

She just wanted to curl up in a corner and cry. Just like back then when Tony had been missing in Afghanistan. Her realistic side was telling her that he was dead. Obi was telling her the same while heavily hinting that he would gladly hire her for the same _services_ she was providing Tony with.

She took a shower after that particularly disgusting conversation with him. After telling Obadiah that her services did never include what he thought Tony got, and that for sure she would not even let him get close enough to ever touch her, her contract had been terminated. She had not applied for any other position, yet, she remembered being a bit miffed that SI did not offer her anything else, after all she had been a loyal employee for ten years. She had just packed up shop when the news came that Stark had escaped and had been found in the desert.

She knew that she was in the will and had amounted a rather big nest-egg, since she did not need to own a car, at some point she gave up having her own flat and simply chose one of the rooms in the Malibu-mansion to be her own, and Tony's credit card that was manned by J.A.R.V.I.S. took care of any expenses she had there. Sometimes, except for the fact that she was kicking out the conquest of the night instead of being it, she felt like his wife. She didn't need his house, even though he'd left it to her and she was glad that she did not have to go house-hunting right away.

She would live in a cardboard box if only it meant that he was alive and well.

Her name had appeared in his will after he had confided her in on the Ivan-issue. J.A.R.V.I.S. had only been sentient and self-aware for a rather short term back then and Tony had to switch him off actually, because the A.I. was glitching with all the foreign things that were crumbling down on him after his creator had revealed the most devastating losses in his life.

Tony had not reprogrammed him. Tony and Pepper had been talking to him, and she was only then realizing how much more than a simple computer program J.A.R.V.I.S. was. Back then, he also was not always up and running, he was mostly in sleep-mode until addressed. It had been weird in the beginning, talking to him, even though that was something that Tony encouraged, after all, the artificial intelligence was supposed to learn.

Now, she could not imagine living without either Tony, or J.A.R.V.I.S., or the bots. Tony treated them like they were spoilt pets, or even children, and after some time she found herself responding to their beeps and whirs in the same way their creator did. She would forever remember the soft smile Tony sent her way when she helped U fishing out a rag he had been using to polish one of his cars out from under the car and chatted with him that she was hoping that Tony had upped his allowance for that, U happily chirping away his response.

J.A.R.V.I.S. had gone through the biggest evolution, though. He was connected with the internet, various servers all over the planet served as his memory, as his bases. His computing capacity rivaled that of the most evolved computers in the world, knowing Tony it most probably even surpassed it. He had his metaphorical fingers in most branches of SI, was their personal bodyguard and butler, and Tony's lab-partner.

She did not know how he would react when anything would happen to his creator, his father. He was fierce already now when it came to protecting his family. What he did to make sure the inventor lived. Not only Tony knew about the current fluctuations in Malibu, and that the local energy provider had been hacked (even though nobody else ever found out).

She really hoped she never had to find out what he would do when confronted with something he could not change. J.A.R.V.I.S. had been the only one who did not believe for a second that Tony was dead back then in Afghanistan. He had one last message from his creator, it just consisted of the word "help", and J.A.R.V.I.S. had figured out the coordinates from where it had been sent.

It was about hundred meters away from the site where the convoy had been attacked. So Tony had gotten out.

It took almost three months and the artificial intelligence taking over a drone from the military that miraculously filmed the caves near a village named Gulmira, a rather big explosion, and something flying away from it to finally convince Colonel James Rhodes to organize another search.

It was the first time she was slightly frightened by the abilities J.A.R.V.I.S. had developed. On the other hand, she was so relieved that he had found Tony that she did not further think about it.

The only time J.A.R.V.I.S. had been offline since then was when Fury had payed Tony the first visit in Malibu. And after that time, after being forced to shut down he had set himself a new goal in protecting his creator. Something like this would never happen again. By then Pepper was cherishing the AI's protectiveness.

S.K.Y.N.E.T. would piss its servers if it was ever confronted with J.A.R.V.I.S..

She just wished that other things were as easy to sort out. Just write some code, and all the bad guys would be handled remotely.

Why couldn't life be that easy?

* * *

Loki once more had helped taking Anthony up into his bedroom and patiently waited until he was done minding his business in the bathroom before helping to tuck him in. It was weird, the engineer simply had to hold out his hand and the Demigod did not know why, but he was up and running to help

Anthony had called it that – tucking him in, like a child –, grinning like a kid, and was demanding a goodnight kiss which, thank the Norns, the Lady Pepper delivered before thanking the dark-haired God and also climbing into the bed.

Loki still smiled to himself when he stood outside the door, knowing how affectionate the engineer could get with the pain-medication that was flowing through his veins. Voices made him throw another glance into the living area downstairs, where the holodesk was still lit and Dr. Torres had been playing with the holograms of the prosthetic ribcage, while most of the other doctors had already retired for the night. Dr. Banner had left to look at the data Dr. Foster was obsessing about.

Fandral had joined the orthopedist at some point when Loki had discovered Sudoku and was so engrossed in solving the next puzzle that he forgot about the older God.

By the time the Trickster realized that he was sitting alone on the couch, the dark-haired orthopedist had abandoned her work and was conversing with the Asgardian who, once more, was clearly impressed by the human ways to approach things. Though, secretly, Loki thought he was most intrigued by the fact that Dr. Torres had been married to another woman, had a child with her best friend who appeared to have been a rather promiscuous man, and had a full-time job. Except for having a child with a man you were not married to (because, really, that happened all the time!), none of that would have been possible on Asgard, at least for the better situated. Peasants and servants worked all day, no matter if they were male or female.

Yes, so maybe he had listened with half an ear before taking Anthony to bed... err, helping to take the engineer upstairs. Frowning, shook his head about himself before moving closer to the stairs to have a better view.

By now, it appeared to be Fandral who was talking. He sounded more sincere than normally, when he was wooing the fairer sex, most probably adapting to the status of his conversation partner.

"I have four older brothers, Lady Calliope, and none of them ever saw more than the land my father possessed. What little it was, it got even smaller with my appearance, another heir that would demand their share, and they let me feel it. I did not want to become a farmer, not only because of their influence. It's hard, ungrateful, dirty work, and I cannot even _drink_ milk without getting sick. I like being clean." This got him a sympathetic pat on his forearm, and the blonde God leaned back on his chair.

"Can you imagine being mocked because of taking a bath? Because you do not want to smell like the animals surrounding you? So I joined Odin's troops and thought I would die on Jotunheim in battle. It turned out that taking on a raging bull is not much different to taking on a Jotun Ice Beast, and that I am rather talented with a foil. What I did not think through was that as a soldier on a battlefield at some point you smell worse than cattle."

Loki could hear the tiny smile that was directed at the woman. Fandral definitely knew how to woo them, but he was rarely being so sincere and honest. What he had just narrated, it was something Loki had never heard before. Well… you didn't boast to a lady of the court that your father was a farmer if you wanted to get under her skirt. Norns, you did not tell that to anyone in the upper ranks – being a mage was bad enough, but being of a lower status? Not only Sif would have never let him live it down.

"Well, and look at you now, all big, mighty warrior, I bet they are proud of you", the orthopedist smiled, her hand still resting on the Asgardian's forearm. Fandral sighed.

"My father disowned me. Not that I would have needed anything from him. I am a General in Odin's troops, for the Norns' sake, and instead of being proud of what I achieved, I was mocked for being able to read and being gifted with the All-speak. I am still sending part of my guerdon to my mother, but other than not being able to see her, I do not miss that life. I rather like my comfortable bed and my bathtub", he grinned, making the woman laugh again.

"Oh, Honey, believe me, most, if not all women like their men smelling good. And maybe also your parents will come around at some point." Again, she was patting his forearm, before crossing her legs and twirling her hair around her finger.

"My father disowned me when he found out I was with a woman. Then he figured out that I was still his little girl and un-disowned me. And then my Mom disowned me and made my Dad crazy because her Christian God obviously sends every homosexual directly to hell, which means that she cannot spend any time with me. So I had my best friend walking me down the aisle when I married my girlfriend. Ok, so Dad made up his mind and still came to the wedding, and marrying Arizona was not the best of my decisions, but meh, that's life. I think I would've been better off snatching Mark before he fell in love with little Grey, at least that would have spared me the drama with my wife resenting me for saving her life, and subsequently cheating on me… but there were also good times, you know?"

Her hand once more curled around Fandral's forearm, and Loki chose this time to turn around and walk to his room. The female was sending very obvious signs that she would not be averse to anything the Asgardian might offer, and Loki had been witness to enough of Fandral's conquests and, on occasion, also their conquering. Sleeping in the same tent rarely had benefits.

While wandering into his own bedroom and pulling off his clothes he hoped that they would take it to either of their rooms. He forgot his tablet downstairs, and had seen too many movies in the past days for wanting to rely on the television in his bedroom for entertainment.

He actually yelped as he entered the bathroom and stepped out of his underwear, his thigh once more deciding to go numb on him, a brief spike of pain shooting down to the knee. Warm water had helped against previous episodes, so he sighed and stepped into the shower and under a perfectly tempered spray.

"You are uncharacteristically quiet this evening, J.A.R.V.I.S.", the Demigod addressed this thoughtful kindness provided by the AI, thinking over what just had happened. He had managed to hide previous pains and the numbness, playing it off as still recovering from the injuries he had sustained during the invasion.

The AI normally reacted to all of his ailments, though, and, most of the time, contacted his creator or his wife, and some ointment or a heat pillow was arranged for him without making a big deal out of it.

J.A.R.V.I.S. needed a moment to answer.

" _You did not seem too disturbed by the nerve-impingement in your hip. A simple repositioning of the joint might alleviate the pain. You may want to ask Dr. Torres, she is qualified for that kind of treatment."_

J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded… different. He sounded like when the Quinjet with Agent Hill had attacked the tower, when she had taken down the Iron Man suit. Clinical, analytical.

Loki glanced up at the ceiling as he let the water cascade over his head, not sure if also this bathroom contained the same equipment like the one next to the master bedroom, cameras and weaponry everywhere. If he had to guess, he would opt for a yes.

It scared him somewhat, that the artificial intelligence seemed so distant, so… like a machine. So…

Cold.

No. Not cold. Never cold.

Downcast.

A machine did not sound downcast.

Neither would it be back talking, flirting, or making jokes. It wouldn't carry the warmth and affection J.A.R.V.I.S. normally transmitted when conversing with his… family…

On second thought, when you considered what had happened in the past days, it did make sense.

Reaching for the shampoo he had so come to like (which, curiously enough bore the name which Dr. Yang had bestowed upon him) he started to massage his scalp, relishing the genius invention that showers were. Showers, central heating, electricity and running water. No smoky rooms, no smell of burnt things, no servants that needed to be informed hours before you wanted to take a bath.

Whoever decided that Midgard was underdeveloped and residual must have been on the planet before humans started inventing things. He wanted to figure out more. He wanted to learn about human evolution, he wanted to learn what had happened after his last stint here, birthing the myths of gods among the Nordic tribes. J.A.R.V.I.S. would know…

J.A.R.V.I.S..

J.A.R.V.I.S. had other problems in the moment than babysitting a curious God. If Loki were used to computers, knowing them as inanimate things that made life easier but nothing else, he would have problems understanding it.

But he had gotten to know the voice from the ceiling as a witty, snarky, determined, empathetic entity who would do anything to protect his creator. Loki had never really thought of him as an it.

Of course he was having problems with what was awaiting his creator tomorrow.

"Anthony will be fine, dear J.A.R.V.I.S.. He has a squadron of specialists and Asgard's head healer at his disposal", he said before rinsing his hair and running his fingers through the long, jet-black strands before reaching out to the concoction that was called conditioner. Another human invention he had learned to love in less than a week.

" _The statistics state something different. There is a disturbingly significant chance for Sir to… not… survive this."_ Even if it was rather hard calculating in a magical healer from another realm.

Loki massaged the white goo into his hair and pooled it on top of his head as he set out to wash the rest of his body. Shower gel. Another invention he would miss when he inevitably would have to go back to Asgard.

"Have you calculated in all the other times Anthony managed to beat the statistics? I do believe that he is an outlier on many occasions."

" _I… am afraid that he may be running out of luck, eventually. And I… feel… inadequate… for not being able to be of any assistance_." Never had J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded so hesitant when speaking, so subdued.

So human.

"None of us is feeling any different, J.A.R.V.I.S.. This is a situation beyond our control. All you can do is wait, and being reduced to inaction. Try not to calculate statistics, it will not help. All we can do is wait, and be there for the Lady Pepper." He did not even want to imagine how she was feeling. He knew Anthony for a few days now and was dreading tomorrow morning, not knowing how to pass the time until the surgery was over and they would know everything would be fine.

It was rather understandable that J.A.R.V.I.S. chose a cool, mechanic approach to deal with what was happening here. Anthony had called him sentient, self-aware, and this was more than true. Lifting his leg to wash his calf, Loki had to grab the wall of the shower to not overbalance when another spike of pain ran down his thigh.

" _You really should consider asking Dr. Torres, Master Loki. She and Master Fandral are still talking downstairs."_

Loki gritted his teeth before answering, slowly placing his foot back down on the tiles. He had tried to rectify the position of the nerve branch already, however, ever since the glamor Odin had cast on him broke, he had problems accessing his body. Healing the bruises on his skin and his tortured throat after _the Other_ had grabbed him was easy.

Restoring his anatomy to how it had been before the truck-incident and teleporting Anthony, however, wasn't. His skin, his eye-color, they had been easy to recreate, he had done so subconsciously while Anthony and the Lady Pepper had comforted him. Some other features he was… disguising, because he did not know how to restore them. How much had the All-father really changed?

He was able to bear children, the existence of Sleipnir was the best evidence for that fact. He did not remember shifting his insides back then.

His encounter with Fandral had shown him that he was in the possession of a prostate (and he hoped very dearly that it was still there), and very distinct and excitable nerve endings in his scrotum and perineum.

Hogun had shown him how to break a hip, and he had mended it on his own.

And now he could not even move a stuck nerve that got stuck because of reasons he did not know.

"They are still talking?" Fandral must have gotten blind in his old days. Normally he was not this oblivious to obvious advances. Normally he would have the woman he was pursuing already in his chambers.

" _Dr. Torres just invited him for a cup of coffee into her quarters. Master Fandral declined, saying that while he is flattered and would love to take her offer, he would rather wait until after Sir's treatment was over."_

Stepping back under the shower, Loki closed his eyes, rinsing out the conditioner.

"What does coffee have to do with tomorrow?" he asked then.

J.A.R.V.I.S. made a noise that sounded like a chuckle and the God was wondering if he had ever really heard him make such a noise before. Sometimes, it seemed like he was sighing, but they never actually heard a sigh, it was merely the tone the AI was speaking with, then.

" _It is not so much an invitation for a beverage, but more a euphemism for more carnal pleasures",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. explained and Loki made an "Oh!" that had him inhale some water and coughing afterwards.

"The women of Midgard are very…" he did not really know what to say. "Different from the women on Asgard, I guess."

The AI made the noise again.

" _They do know what they want. And how to get it. Do you want me to notify Dr. Torres that you are in need of assistance? She is preparing to leave."_

Pushing his head one last time under the spray, Loki took a few seconds to think about it. He would be rather grateful to not have this numb feeling, and the spikes of pain anymore.

"Yes, please, tell her. I will be downstairs in a few minutes."

He made a haste with towel-drying his hair and himself when J.A.R.V.I.S. announced that the orthopedist would be waiting for him, and slipped into some new underwear and the green satin pajamas before having to hunt down his slippers and leaving the bedroom.

He tried not to overanalyze the fact that he, Loki of Asgard, the God of Lies and Hiding everything about himself, was willingly contacting a mortal doctor for help, when the head-healer of Odin's court was only an elevator-ride away.

The orthopedist was smiling at him, as was Fandral, when they listened to what was bothering him. At least she did not seem offended by the God's rejection. This was something new… and normally, it was Fandral who was rejected.

She was asking J.A.R.V.I.S. for a scan, and if he had also one from before the incident with the truck, so she could see if everything else was alright.

She frowned a bit when comparing the two 3D pictures that were provided to her, after hours of practice her movements so much more used to turning and flopping them, before breaking into an even brighter smile.

"Oh, you!" she exclaimed, her eyes flashing with humor when she turned to Loki again, laughing, making both Gods in the room frown.

Callie was already directing her gaze at the ceiling.

"And you, too, J.A.R.V.I.S., you naughty boy. You really thought I wouldn't notice?!"

" _Dr. Torres, please, let me explain…"_

Loki cut him off. "Notice what?"

She turned around to the Demigod, and the expression on his face, the dread, the… fear?... the helpless expression made her backpedal from the conclusion she had come to only seconds before.

That the Trickster God was playing a trick on her. She had expected him to laugh along when he got caught.

He did not look like someone who had been caught.

"Notice what?!" the dark-haired man urged again, his eyes wandering between the mortal doctor and the holographic images of his bones.

Callie slowly pointed at one of the pictures.

"That's your scan from before the truck."

Loki nodded. He had seen J.A.R.V.I.S. pull them up. The AI had even labeled them _before_ and _after._ He guessed that the _before_ was from the scan he had taken on his first evening in the Penthouse.

"And that's the one with the impinged nerve, which I totally could help you with, just so you know."

"Yes?"

"Well", the doctor pointed at the _before_ picture. "This is the hip of an I'd say 20 year old man with your build, there's still some epiphyseal cartilage. T'was broken but healed nicely close to the pubic arch, and the guy also broke his femur once, must have been painful."

Loki nodded, Fandral grimaced. He had been the one to carry Loki off the battlefield after that injury. An injury he had acquired when saving Volstagg's life.

"It was, believe me", the Trickster said.

Callie just cocked her head, before turning back, tilting both pictures in a way that they had a top view. There were some very clear differences, concerning the shape of the bones, even if the two Gods did not really know what her point was.

She pointed at the _after_ picture.

"This, my friend, is a female pelvis."


	20. Soon it will return

**_Chapter 20: Soon it will return_**

 _To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer. (Mahatma Gandhi)_

* * *

Colonel Chester "Trip" Phillips III. threw another annoyed glance into the round of people occupying the seats around the conference table. Whoever had thought that having him here as a representative of the armed forces just because he was the Air Force liaison to Stark Industries had not calculated in the fact that he had about as much patience with Steven Grant Rogers as his Grandfather had had back then during World War II.

Which meant he had none at all. He was hiding it better, though, sharing a look with the head of the SI legal department. Emerson Bonner not only wore an unusual name, she was also one of the few people he was truly and honestly afraid of. She always reminded him of Helen Mirren, yet, her demeanor was more that of a… oh, what had she said during one of their first meetings after Rhodes had become the Iron Patriot and was too busy to deal with Stark?

 _The only difference between me and a Pitbull is lipstick, Colonel._

In the next sentence she had made very clear that Stark Industries by no means was breaking any contracts. They had clauses in any of their contracts to be able to cancel them on their will. The military had been so greedy for the weapons, even their lawyers, so while making sure that they got as much as they could for their money they completely dismissed the possibility that Stark might ever _want_ to get out of these contracts

Stark had shut down the production only a little more than a year before, and after miserably failing to get their hands on Iron Man, and that awful stint with Hammer tech (that guy could not even build a slingshot that was working, and the armed forces learned that the hard way), the US military was more or less crawling back on its knees, begging Stark to be their supplier again.

He did supply them.

With anything _but_ weapons.

And Chester was at the short end of the ire of at least three ministers and a bunch of highly decorated generals that thought it would be easy convincing Stark of making weapons again.

 _Just appeal to his arrogance, his brilliance, his patriotism. Howard Stark built this company for one reason: To keep America safe._

They obviously had underestimated how sincere Stark was about his decision.

Chester did not even try to talk to the man about it. He had met Tony Stark only once in person, mostly he was dealing with Pepper Potts, Bartholomew Chalmers, or Emerson Bonner. That one time he met him, the man had been so busy blowing up a Humvee that he did not even realize that he should be talking with the guy in the uniform. There were various scientists around Stark cheering on him, while Miss Potts was explaining the new orientation Stark Industries would be taking with military supply.

There would be no weapons.

SI would do anything, though, to keep the forces safe and sound.

When the dust finally had settled in the experiment chamber, the vehicle was barely scratched, Tony Stark was grinning all over his face, and Miss Potts next to him was smiling softly.

Everybody could make things explode – even Justin Hammer managed to do that. To render whatever was at the other end of the conflict able to withstand it, was not so easy, though.

And just like that, next to more or less monopolizing the clean energy market, Stark Industries marched into the field of protective combat gear, amped up radar, sonar, and whatever other detection method they could think of, and revolutionized modern warfare by inventing useful things such as Quinjets, or the Helicarrier.

Colonel Phillips had watched in unveiled awe how effectively S.H.I.E.L.D. got destroyed by the national and international institutions that were present in this room. He hoped that the new agency that was formed would be less chaotic.

Which should be an easy feat to achieve. Now, the right hand did not seem to know what the left hand did. The former Director had no clue what was going on in his own company, and rather threatened to sue Stark Industries for hacking S.H.I.E.L.D. than thinking about the consequences of everything that had been revealed.

That more than half of the former S.H.I.E.L.D. personal was either imprisoned by now or on the run. They were everywhere, and some genius had decided to document all their devious deeds in the past and present. It would be the downfall of many people, Alexander Pierce, the World Security Council, Senators and Judges, police superintendents and other people in high positions, who sold their soul to the devil, and now they were paying the price for it. It would be a busy next few years for many lawyers all across the country.

Rogers had first confronted the one-eyed man, especially after finding out about the Winter Soldier program.

After the commotion was quelled by Thor, the Super soldier had grown silent, sitting in his chair and staring at his hands as more dirt was dug out form the S.H.I.E.L.D. files.

All of the attendees of this conference were visibly shaken when they decided it was time for a break. Well, except for Nick Fury and Natasha Romanoff. They just remained there with stoic miens, listening how Mrs. Stark excused herself from a second round of _things that went so wrong that we're actually wondering how nobody ever noticed_ and left any further involvement of Stark Industries to her legal department _._

The three Asgardians, even the one who claimed to be the King of Asgard, acted more like bodyguards to the woman, than a brigade of a foreign nation that was involved in the mess that the invasion had helped to reveal. After it was clear that the Avengers Initiative would be put on ice for as long as it needed to re-instate S.H.I.E.L.D. as an institution and for Agent Coulson to take over the reign, they decided they would leave matters of Midgard to Midgard, offering help should the need arise. Thanos would be discussed once they had researched this issue on Asgard.

Banner also chose to join Mrs. Stark, throwing a side glance at both the President and Emerson Bonner. The restraining order against General Ross was obtained the same day J.A.R.V.I.S. had informed him that SI would take things in their hands. He had not dared asking yet whether the General even cared about that piece of paper or would start another hunt that would drag out the Hulk again. He would remain in the tower for as long as Tony would keep him for now.

The rest of the former Avengers and that scrawny boy who obviously was another Stark-esque genius in weapon development decided to go to their level in the tower after having been informed that their lunch had arrived.

There had been enough food for all of them also on the fourth floor where the conference room was situated, and Chester was grateful for it. It kept him from going out, finding the next liquor store that was open, and drowning himself in a bottle for all the shit he just had heard, and most probably would hear for the rest of the day, and maybe days to follow.

He also noticed the increase of security personal on the floor and around the tower, wearing the SI logo on their uniforms, and some people in suits. Feds. Why they thought that black suits would not make them stick out like a sore thumb he would never understand.

Well. He also would make sure that Nick Fury would not get away. Or to any other level of the tower. How the Director of a governmental agency could have such a selective attention to certain things was beyond him. Not to forget that not so long ago his mind had been occupied, and while he kept ranting that Loki still should pay for what he had done, obviously he did not connect his own situation to that train of thought.

How somebody chose to always work behind the backs of anyone he considered useful was a miracle to Chester, as well. Stark was more than willing to supply the armed forces of the USA and any ally.

If Fury was after the Arc reactor, or any other thing the genius might have invented for S.H.I.E.L.D. if asked nicely, they for sure now would have to come begging on their knees, and in the end they would only get another Helicarrier or two because of the Thanos-threat.

He was ripped out of his musings by a cough, having to look up to the man right next to him to be able to look him in the eye. Obviously, the members of the Avengers Initiative had deemed the break finished and had returned to the conference room.

Rogers still appeared shaken, but at least not as pale anymore.

"I knew a Colonel Phillips during my time in the army", he started, watching as Chester licked his fork clean before putting it and his plate down.

"Yeah. My Grandfather always claimed it was your fault that he went bald, Mr. Rogers."

It got him a boyish smile, before the Super soldier realized that once more someone was not using his rank. Stark's… not-secretary didn't know better, he supposed, but a fellow soldier…

"It's Captain Rogers, actually", he said, getting an amused snort as answer.

"Oh, I bet you wish that", Chester answered, turning around to hunt down a bottle of water, having a confused Rogers trail behind him.

"I'm sorry?"

With a sigh, Phillips turned around to him again, while turning the cap of the bottle.

"Well, according to my Grandfather's stories and what can be found on your enlistment papers, officially you never made it beyond the rank of a Private, and even there, you were only one week in basic training before you were souped up. They _named_ you Captain America for the USO tours, they didn't _promote_ you to Captain Rogers on paper, though."

Rogers' face fell slightly when he mentioned the tours, yes, they were clearly not what he had expected to be doing after becoming a Super soldier.

Chester sighed.

"Listen, I know that you think that you leading the Howling Commandoes and your role in the Avengers entitles you to exactly this title. There's a but, though. Actually, there's a few of them. The first thing was 70 years ago, and most of the time you got lucky. New York? Was saved by Iron Man, Loki, and Eric Selvig. Any other heavy hitter could have done what you did. And if S.H.I.E.L.D. could have been assed to let anyone know what was going on, we could have coordinated a counter-attack and maybe evacuated part of the town together with the police and the national guard. Yes, you did some of the heavy lifting, but that nuke would have wiped out New York City."

"And the threat", Rogers stubbornly countered, making Phillips roll his eyes.

"And it would have rendered the city uninhabitable for the next couple of hundred years after killing every living thing in it. You are lacking 70 years, son. Do you know what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Does Chernobyl ring any bells? Do you know that Germany is now one of our most valued allies? That we have organizations like the United Nations that represent more than 100 governments? Don't insist on your position, _Private_ Rogers, it won't do you any good. Fury is already drowning for all his failures. People are still willing to follow you, because they grew up with the icon. However, if you stick to your values and your knowledge of the world from that time, this will be your downfall, eventually. Back then, it might have been ok to disobey orders and jackhammer your way through a wall like the Howling Commandoes did. Such a behavior does nothing more than putting you into Leavenworth, nowadays.

While Rogers cringed at the _Private_ , Chester shuddered at the thought that he had just called someone _son_ who was, at least in years that were not spent frozen in the arctic, twenty years younger than him. Oh God, he _was_ turning into his father, after all. And, even worse, into his Grandfather.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. is history, Mr. Rogers. At least the S.H.I.E.L.D. you know. I bet they would be willing to hire you, once they managed to re-instate it. This will take time, though. You are still a member of the army, even if you were MIA for 70 years. I am actually wondering that nobody has tried to contact you, yet. If you want to, enroll again. Finish your training, it must be exhausting to wing everything depending on the situation. Let them help you to catch up with our time. They have professionals for that. Ask Mr. Stark if you don't wanna get back to be a soldier."

Blue eyes looked at him, and Chester was not quite sure if he would keep his head over this. After all he just had demoted _Captain_ Amerika and told him that he was a case for the shrink.

After a few seconds, Rogers ran a hand through his hair, wearing a resigned expression.

"I don't think Stark would be willing to help", he said then. Tony had made pretty clear where his interest and priorities were, inviting the Asgardians, and Dr. Banner to stay with him. Clint had somehow managed to weasel his way into that illustrious group, as well as Mr. Holmes. Steve, and for some reason, Natasha, were not included.

To be honest, Steve had not even tried to reach out to Stark since the other man had broken out Loki from the printer room. Actually, he had succeeded in reaching him through J.A.R.V.I.S. (and he still could not comprehend what everybody meant by talking about an artificial intelligence – this most probably also was something he would have to catch up to) and tried to order him to hand over the criminal.

Stark had cut him off, invited the entire world to a press conference, and had put things in the right light where everybody else was determined to have Loki as the guilty party.

It would have been very easy to use him as the scapegoat, Fury had been trying until the very end, even though he did not know whether that was _the Other's_ doing or not.

Steve had not talked to Stark since the day the Penthouse had been attacked by Maria Hill. And even then he mostly had sat there, confused by the techno-babble the son of his late friend Howard and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s little inventor exchanged.

"Really? Who do you think dug you out of the ice in the Arctic? S.H.I.E.L.D. may claim it was them, but it's still Stark money that financed the entire thing and Stark Tech that finally found the plane and you."

It was common knowledge that Howard Stark never ceased looking for his friend. Less common knowledge was that he had almost ruined his company financially with that search, and only his untimely death and his son taking over as soon as he had turned 21 had altered that fate. One of the things that Tony had announced when taking the reign was that the search for Captain America would continue.

The SI lawyers were starting to move back into the conference room, making the rest of the people in the foyer head in the same direction while Rogers was still watching Chester.

He had not even thought about contacting the Army, yet. He had not thought that Fury's, no, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s claim on him was anything but legitimate. Given the fact that the organization had not even existed back then when he had steered the plane into the ice, he actually rolled his eyes about himself, before reaching out to shake Phillips hand.

"I guess, I have many things to think about…" Maybe Tony's servant Jarvis would provide him with a possibility to contact his actual employer.

Chester shook the other man's hand, and chuckled.

"Well, I guess you'll have a lot of time in there. Em just opened her suitcase, which means there will be a lot of law-speak in the next couple of hours. I envy Mrs. Stark for being able to leave while sicking them on us."

* * *

Natasha Romanoff was staring at the packed duffel bag that lay on top of her bed.

On top of her very comfortable bed in this very nice bedroom with a large ensuite bathroom and access to a communal kitchen and living room, with a fridge that was always stocked, and a TV program of which she understood the language.

Okay, so the last issue maybe was not that much of a problem with her vast knowledge of languages, but still, it was nice not having to guess half of the content.

Anyway, back to the bag. Which was packed. She was kind of expecting to find a notice that said _Fuck off._

When she got closer, there was indeed an envelope. When she opened it, she found the addresses of a few hotels in Manhattan, and a handful of cash. No note. It still felt like _Fuck off._

Somebody really expected her to leave, and briefly she was wondering whether also Clint was sitting in front of a packed suitcase, or whether she was receiving some special treatment by Stark because she once posed as his PA. She knew he did not trust her. However, after the invasion and the formation of the Avengers she thought he would overcome his reservations. After all he seemed to be best buddies already with the God who actually invaded their planet – with three Gods from Asgard, to be accurate – with the boy who had invented the phase 2 weapons, with Banner, or this redhead doctor who gave Steve the stink eye whenever they met.

Hell, even Clint seemed to be a welcome member of this illustrious circle of… she did not even know how to name them! Clint had shared a room, a couch with the man who controlled his mind, and did not even seem to be mad at him anymore, while she somehow was receiving the cold shoulder ever since the fact that also Loki was a victim in this ordeal had been made public.

And while Clint received an instant offer by the Homeland Security Department/ new S.H.I.E.L.D. to continue his work, she had been told that her case needed a close evaluation.

Which most probably meant that she would get sacked.

Her afternoon had not been funny at all.

Potts had disappeared during the lunch break together with Banner and the Gods, and the rest of what was left of the Avengers had moved back to the level with the guest rooms, and discussed everything that was not supposed to leave S.H.I.E.L.D. 's golden halls in front of Jane Foster and her intern.

Nobody had noticed that there were even more people who had moved to the level below theirs and it creeped her out. What were those people doing here? Why was Stark's electronic butler restricting access to any other parts of the building, except for the guest quarters and the conference rooms?

Potts' lawyers stayed. And demanded a continuation of the dismantlement of everything S.H.I.E.L.D. had stood for. Fury had thrown another tantrum, by now appearing like a spoilt brat who did not get his will, when he was denied to leave the tower, agents and security personal stepping up out of nowhere, people in black suits, wearing earwigs.

The former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. was escorted out of the tower when the meeting was over, still limping a bit, still showing bruises from his encounter with the other, still too stubborn to give himself a few days of rest.

To be honest, after what she had heard, about which mistakes the one-eyed man had made in the past, she could not hold it against the federal agents. She was not a hundred percent sure whether Stark had not placed the evidence on the S.H.I.E.L.D. servers, however, what should have been the purpose for that? And they would've had to manufacture tons of documents, collect data on thousands of people.

Why take the effort?

Ockham's razor dictated that the simplest explanation usually was the correct one.

Unfortunately, the entire heap of evidence pointed to things being as they had been displayed: That H.Y.D.R.A. had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., that Fury had been a lousy director and secretly a sadist, and that somebody had read the files concerning her well enough to determine her a security risk.

Maybe she should talk to Stark. After all, there was a bigger threat coming, and she could be of help, then. Unconsciously, just like everyone else who was not used to talking to the artificial intelligence in the house, she lifted her eyes to the ceiling, spotting one or two tiny spots that might have been cameras and opened her mouth.

" _There will be no bargaining for your stay, Miss Romanoff"_ ; J.A.R.V.I.S. cut off her very first attempt. Before she could respond anything, the artificial butler continued.

" _You will find a cell phone in your belongings, and the amount of money should serve you well until you have found other means to sustain yourself. Other than that, you will not remain in this building, and if I were you, I would leave before the remaining Federal Agents change their mind and chose to take a closer look on your former employers and how your involvements with them were terminated. Turncoats do not have a very high life expectancy, don't you agree,_ MissRushman?"

The threat that he would point out just this features to the men in black downstairs was hanging in the room unsaid, just as much as the unveiled antipathy that was making her swallow.

J.A.R.V.I.S. simply engaged the lock that kept the door to her bedroom closed, having it swing open.

" _We will contact you, should the need arise."_

* * *

Fandral observed how a shell-shocked Loki stared at the holographic pictures, one hand fisting right next to his body, long fingers curling around the fabric of those green pajamas he was wearing.

The momentousness of what the human doctor had just said did not really make it to the blonde God's consciousness, because Loki was changing his position, and Fandral knew that he was going to leave as soon as he could, without getting help.

Loki would not have asked, this much was sure, if there was not a problem. He would not trick a woman he had barely exchanged two words with. Juvenile tricks like this were reserved for people he knew well enough that they would laugh about it.

Sadly, this only included his Mother, his late wife, Fandral, and sometimes Thor.

So, before the dark-haired God could even start to make up an excuse to leave again, Fandral moved up, cocked his head and asked: "But you could help him with this ailment, Lady Calliope?"

"F-Fandral, please, just…" Loki tried protesting, but a warm hand came to rest on his forearm and for some reason this touch completely paralyzed him, while Fandral's gaze was never leaving the woman.

"What would you need?" he continued, watching how the smile now completely faded from the mortal's face, her eyes straying from him to Loki who was watching his feet… and holding his breath.

Stepping up to the two Asgardians also her hand reached out, briefly meeting the blonde God's without ever touching the other man.

"First of all, please let go off him. I will not treat you against your will, Loki", she said, long black curls falling over her shoulder as she bowed her head to look at the Trickster, to catch those green eyes that were firmly trained on his feet.

"It's not a trick, right? I can reposition that joint, but you have to tell me what I'm working with, otherwise I might damage something. You don't have to tell me what happened, I won't ask how this is even possible, I won't tell anyone, alright?"

Loki's hand fisted again, the muscles of his forearm moving under Fandral's hand that still had not let go off him.

"Please, Loki, let her help", the other man urged, unaware of the internal struggle his friend was just going through.

Loki was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Fandral knew him well enough to know that he would have reacted differently if this was a trick.

Dr. Torres had said the words _female pelvis_ before Loki had any chance to flee the scene, and now his brain was overworking itself. So this was one more thing that Odin might have changed, that broke when his magic clashed with the element in Anthony's reactor. He dared not even looking at the scans anymore, frightened of what he might spot even in the earlier scan.

" _I assure you that this is not a practical joke. Master Loki's skills did not mix well with Sir's reactor, the injury was acquired when he was shifting shapes a few days ago. I do believe that this is why he cannot turn back to his regular bone structure",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. jumped in, startling all of them as he forewent his _notify strangers_ sound.

" _I would propose the floor as a stable surface for the repositioning. The couch is too soft. Otherwise, I would suggest relocating to the medical bay, the stretchers are suited as well for this kind of purpose"_ , the artificial intelligence continued as Fandral finally let go off Loki, and Dr. Torres hummed silently.

She still did not touch her potential patient, though the blonde God now grabbed both his shoulders and turned him to face him.

"For how long have you been walking around with this ailment, Loki?!" he exclaimed, ignoring the frightened glance the slightly smaller man was directing at him now.

"Loki, vinsamlegast, tala við mig. Hversu lengi hefur þú verið meiddur?"

Torres frowned by now, not understanding what the Norse God she had never heard of (but to be honest, she was already struggling with the names of Thor and Odin, and the name Loki only rang a bell because she had watched that movie with Jim Carrey…) said.

"Fandral, ég vil ekki að tala um..." Loki sounded so young, so small as he stood there, the older God's hands still on his shoulders, ice blue eyes locking on his as he tried to actually look away.

"Þú veist að ég er ekki sama um beinin! Hversu lengi?!" Fandral did not get loud. He still managed to sound urgent, while Loki looked like a scolded school boy as he lowered his eyes again.

"Fjórir dagar...", the man in the green satin pajamas finally admitted, having his friend huff.

"Ég vildi ekki að leggja á Anthony jafnvel meira en ég þegar. Það er bara fast taug…"

While Callie frowned even more by now, Fandral threw up his hands in exasperation before running them through his hair.

"Only a jammed nerve! Like it was _only_ a broken femur back then when you saved Volstagg from being decapitated by his own axe! It was _only_ a broken hip when Hogun…"

"Fandral!" Loki actually got loud. "Getum við vinsamlegast ekki tala um þetta núna?!"

"Will you let the Lady Calliope help you? Please?" The blonde continued looking at Loki as he let his hands fall from his head where he had been messing up his hair back to his sides. He would try to talk to Loki later, because for sure this revelation would cause the younger God to retreat into his shell, trying to hide away from everyone.

Now that he had found some honest friends, Fandral would not allow this.

"Please?" he repeated, watching Loki as he seemed to be debating with himself before turning his gaze to the woman.

"I… suppose I should lie down on the floor?"

* * *

Thor stashed away the crate containing the tesseract in one of the pocket dimensions that had come to him with the Odinforce. And yes, he noticed how much of a hypocrite he had been all the time when making fun of his brother, when badmouthing the way Loki chose to fight, to live his life when he simply could not do it in any other way. And, by the Norns, pocket dimensions were so incredibly useful!

Lejs was already there, organizing something in the foyer to the Thundergod's quarters, and only with a second glance Thor realized that the boy was decking firewood in the corner, something that he had already done the day before.

It actually made the Thunderer frown, after all he was not using his quarters much, lately, commuting between Asgard and Midgard to discuss Thanos, to keep an eye on Loki, to help the friend Tony or the Lady Darcy.

A small smile crept on his lips as he remembered his afternoon with the Lady Darcy. After he had mentioned how he would like his cook to know how to make these delicious muffins and how Asgard did not know of chocolate, she had counted what he had left of the money Lady Pepper had bestowed upon him and decided to take him on a little shopping spree.

Thor definitely planned on delivering the cookbook, measuring cups, muffin forms and of course, a generous amount of chocolate to his chef. The Lady Darcy was in a much better mood when they returned to Stark Tower.

When they arrived in the Penthouse Anthony was reading something on one of his devices with the Lady Pepper sitting right next to him, her head resting on his shoulder as she read along.

He had almost laughed out loud when he saw Fandral and Loki in a roughly similar position, his brother swiping his fingers over the surface of the StarkPad, while the swordsman watched how the Trickster eliminated row after row of the candies.

The doctors were still discussing when he finally managed to say his farewells, getting waves from everybody in the room, even though the ones coming from Loki and Fandral were rather distracted. It made him smile and congratulate himself for bringing the other God along.

Even though it had been his shield-brother who had more or less forced him to take him along.

Well, maybe he could justify it as having Fandral on Midgard as a guard for the second Prince of Asgard, and… why in Hel was Lejs stacking firewood in his anteroom again?!

The boy was turning around just then, realizing he had company and actually jumped a bit.

"Your… your Majesty! I… I did not…"

Thor sent him a smile as he started to take the cape off. One of the many things he would change under his reign was the dress code in Asgard. It simply would not do to continue with these contraptions they called clothes when the people on Midgard had invented garments that did not require a second person to be able to put them on.

"Do not worry, boy. Please notify the cook that I would like to talk to him, I brought some special treats from Midgard. Further, ask the Queen if she would like to join me for supper. I have some issues I would like to discuss with her."

Lejs stood a bit straighter before his eyes strayed to the logs that were still on the floor, reminding Thor again that he had been wondering about this chore.

"You may finish your task beforehand. Regardless, I would like to know why you are stacking again?"

The boy frowned a bit, before briefly turning his gaze to the door that led to the lounge and then back at Thor.

"The Lords Volstagg and Hogun and the Lady Sif have been residing in your lounge since noonday. They requested a larger ingle as well as food and mead, stating that they would wait for you when I offered to notify them when you returned, your Majesty."

He did not tell him that they were behaving as if they owned the place. He did not have to. Thor could see it in the young man's eyes and sighed. Wonderful. He had hoped that he could evade the confrontation with those three for a little longer, and he was actually a bit upset that they did not show him the respect he deserved as their king. Or even as their friend.

It was incredibly rude to invade his private quarters like this, imposing on his new servant who was obviously left with the less popular tasks by the manservant who was supposed to train him.

Putting his cape over the backrest of a chair, Thor sighed, before addressing Lejs again.

"Do not fret, boy, you did nothing wrong. Finish stacking, then notify the cook and Queen Frigga. Also, have the staffs of the Lords Volstagg and Hogun and Lady Sif informed to send one servant each."

His own staff definitely would not be cleaning up after those three anymore.

While the boy was nodding and hurriedly turned back to his task, Thor took another big breath before entering his lounge.

They did not even notice him immediately, easily chatting away, sometimes even around a mouthful of food. Volstagg obviously had striven to reach a new record for eating an entire boar on his own, still holding a knuckle of meat in his greasy hands, licking his equally greasy lips, smearing some of the fat in his beard and, Norns, wiping his free hand, also greasy, on his settee.

The use of table napkins obviously evaded the capabilities of the older Ås.

Sif had draped herself on a chaise lounge, her feet on the upholstery and he dared not even thinking about what the brown stuff under the soles of her boots was.

There were three smashed mugs right next to Hogun, who seemed to have snatched a part of Volstagg's meal, also using Thor's seating-accommodations to clean his fingers. When the Thunderer took a closer look, he also saw more shards on the floor where the other two sat. His manservant Aron stood close by, holding the jug with mead and glanced at his King.

Thor sighed.

Anthony Stark housed more people and fed them at his table and they did not nearly make such a mess.

"My friends. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" Thor boomed, startling the three, the smile on his face not quite reaching his eyes. Another mug shattered on the floor and Thor cringed.

For all the glasses and mugs he had shattered, the past few days under the hospitality of the humans had shown him that you also could threat things as well as people with respect. Somebody had made these items and did not deserve to have their handiwork treated this disrespectfully.

Sif was the first to recover, yet, she was still not removing her soiled boots from Thor's chaise.

"We have been waiting for you. Where have you been the entire day?"

She knew very well where he had been. He was the King, he could not simply vanish on a whim anymore. There were guards to be informed, his mother knew, the court knew, Hel, the news that he had given Eír the dressing-down of her life the day before most probably was in the gossip mill all around the palace.

"I have been on Midgard, Sif."

They did not need any further explanation. He was not even sure if they deserved one. According to them, he had disobeyed his father's orders to bring Loki home, before the court, to face the consequences for his crimes.

Kingship, the Odinforce strumming in his veins, the far sight Hliðskjálf provided, it had him re-evaluate so many things in his life, many of them revolving about their despicable behavior towards his brother.

Loki had always been there when he needed him, he had always watched their backs even though he knew he was mostly not a welcome member of their illustrious circle of warriors at any time. He had taken the blame so many times, knowing that nobody would believe him if he told the truth.

He had been a loyal friend while all they did was belittle him, and use him.

And that one time Loki desperately had needed help, had needed an anchor to stay sane they… he had failed.

He would not justify his efforts to make up for at least some of the wrongdoings against his brother to anyone.

Sif only snorted at his response.

"I really do not understand how you can willingly spend so much time with these depauperate ants", she said, finally moving her feet off the cushions to sit up straight, not paying any attention as Thor gritted his teeth.

"You are King now, Thor. Your duty is to serve Asgard first", Volstagg mumbled around the next bite of flesh, his fingers this time wiped against his tunic.

"As the All-father, it is my duty to rule Asgard and protect the nine realms. I do believe that the threat of Thanos against Midgard is reason enough to step in."

The fake smile had disappeared from the Thunderer's face as he glared at his shield-brother who sat up on the couch, rearranging his tunic around his voluminous stomach.

"A threat that was announced by Loki. He failed with his attempt to conquer Midgard and now he's blaming it on some invented titan", Sif snarled and Thor wished for the front pockets that blue jeans had to have somewhere to stick his hands because the urge to punch something grew.

"So we would not be sitting here and talking about my brother this dismissively had he succeeded?" he asked sarcastically, secretly relishing how the female warrior struggled with making him see that this was once more nothing but one of Loki's schemes.

"I… no, this is not what I wanted to say, Thor. But you know Loki. He cannot be trusted. You know him, Thor, and now he manipulated some stupid mortals to help and keep him from Asgardian justice!" she exclaimed, jumping up from the chaise.

Thor gritted his teeth even more. Yes, he knew his brother. He knew more than his friends would ever want to know. More than they could ever know. Loki's heritage alone would be reason enough for them to demand his immediate imprisonment, and that was something he would not allow.

"You will not talk about allies in this way", he ground out, lifting his hand to stop Sif from saying more before he was finished.

"You will not talk about a Prince of Asgard in this way. Do you think me a liar? I delivered the news of the failed invasion, the evidence I have seen made me decide to believe my brother's report. The Lord Stark will provide this evidence to the court. I have Heimdall scrying for the Chitauri, for the mad Titan and he confirmed an armada of unknown origin outside of the nine realms. You would have the Realm Eternal unprepared and unprotected simply by the fact that my brother is the bearer of bad tidings!" He got loud, stepping closer towards the female warrior as she defensively crossed her arms before her chest.

"He is a…"

"If you say the word criminal now, I will remind you how you disobeyed the word of Asgard's regent and managed to step away unscathed because you were my friends. Do you know which punishment would have awaited you had your deeds not been swept under the carpet during the upheaval that followed Loki's fall from the Bifrost? You would have been drawn and quartered for high treason."

He wanted to add that under his reign justice would be served more efficiently, but refrained from it because it would only raise demands of taking Loki, the criminal, before the court.

"I pardoned Loki for a reason. And I will not start justifying my deeds to you now when all those centuries we know each other you never demanded an explanation for anything I did. Asgard has to prepare for a war, and before you start again with Thanos being a problem of Midgard: Do you think he will stop there?"

Volstagg belched audibly, throwing the hock back onto the plate holding the rest of the boar.

"Well, sooner or later Odin will wake and then Loki will be his problem."

Thor was spared an answer by a knock on the large wooden doors to his lounge. A second later Lejs stuck his head into the room waiting for Thor to turn around to open the door wider.

Obviously the boy had changed the order in which he executed the commands he had been given. The Queen stood behind him, an inquiring expression on her face. Behind her, three rather intimidated servants were hovering.

The Thunderer could not help smiling. The boy had started working in the palace around the time Loki had fallen off the Bifrost, he had become his servant not too long ago. He was young, very young for a servant, but he did not know his history. Maybe some time he would find out. The boy was smart, trying to hide a mischievous grin as Volstagg and Hogun jumped to their feet to greet their Queen.

Also Sif greeted her, before her eyes narrowed on a woman behind Frigga.

"What are you doing here, Ársól?"

Her handmaiden bowed her head. "King Thor had me summoned, I know not the reason."

The other two servants looked just as clueless.

Thor tried not to grin back at Lejs and then addressed the boy and Aron.

"Have the remainders of this meal brought to my dining room, my mother and I will enjoy them. The Lords Volstagg and Hogun and the Lady Sif will leave now."

Turning around to his friends again, Thor clasped his hands behind his back.

"Your servants will take care of the mess you have made here. The next time you want to talk to me, inform my attendants and refrain from occupying my quarters and turning them into a pigsty. Now, please excuse me, my mother and I are having dinner."

Volstagg was the first who hauled himself up, fingers still shining with fat as he reached out for the hock he had been munching on before.

"As you wish, my King", he said, and Thor was not quite sure if he addressed him like that to spite him, after all, he was the one who had announced that Odin would reclaim the throne sooner or later.

Also Hogun, who had not said anything up to now, bowed his head and left with the other Ås. Sif, of course, would not let this slide so easily.

"You act like we never feasted in your lounge room before."

Thor just glared at her. Yes, they had. Upon his invitation. He may be loud, uncouth, and he most certainly did not always make the best decisions. But he was well-mannered enough to not barge into another's quarters when the owner was not there.

"I do not want to discuss this now, Sif." Especially not, if she was not even aware of what she had done. Lejs had already entered the lounge room, and together with Aron he was gathering bowls and plates to carry them to the dining room.

Sif did not even step out of his servants' way, they had to walk around her.

"Where is Fandral?" she asked now, her hands residing on her hips as she glared back.

By now, also the Queen had stepped into the room, sending the female warrior a smile.

"The Prince of Asgard is on a diplomatic mission on Midgard. Of course he needs a security detail. The Lord Fandral generously offered and our King gladly accepted. Now, if you would excuse us, my son and I want to spend the evening together."

She approached Thor, sliding her hand around his forearm as she sweetly looked at Sif, willing her to finally leave as she acknowledged the status of her second son as a Prince of the Realm Eternal, and her first son as her King.

The other woman glared for a few more seconds before bowing her head and also leaving.

The servants gathered the rest of the meal and hurried to the dining room to set the tables there while Thor let his shoulders slump with a heavy sigh.

His fingers closed around the hand his mother offered, her other hand reaching up to brush a few strands of golden hair back behind his ears.

"What has Loki ever done to them to deserve this level of hatred?" he asked, blue eyes focusing on his mother as her smile disappeared, only to be replaced by the sad expression she had worn for the past days.

"I dare not think about their behavior should they ever learn…" Thor's voice as hushed by now, he did have an indoor voice, after all. "They can never know!" he whispered, watching Frigga's uncertain mien.

"I know not if we will be able to hide it for much longer, my dear son. Things like these always come to the surface. We will be there for him, though. He will not have to face this alone again, so the Norns help me!"

* * *

The Lady Calliope was stronger than she appeared. And she did not take a No as answer. Once she had repositioned his hip joint with a popping sound, she simply continued pulling and pushing at Loki's joints, making most of them crack as she ordered him to turn this way and that.

The marble floor was cold under his back and he tried not to flinch as much as he actually did when she found another obstruction. At some point, when he was facing the way Fandral was sitting on the floor by now, he could see how the Ås was flinching with him.

By the time she was done with him, he was sweating despite the coolness of the floor. The blonde God had not moved an inch, he was waiting for the treatment to be finished and for sure would be demanding answers, and Loki had no clue what to tell him that would not cost him his newly-found friendship with the other man.

Fandral and Volstagg were the only ones of their merry band who had fought Jotnar previous to Thor's glorious idea of invading Jotunheim for two of their warriors making in into the weapons vault and preventing his coronation. Thor and Hogun had been out of their nappies not so long ago, and Sif and had not even been born when the war ended.

He had witnessed those monsters before, he had fought in the Great War, and should Loki reveal himself, he would lose another link to his home, and there were so few of them left already.

By the time Loki got up from the floor, feeling a flexibility in some joints that he never had witnessed loosing over the past centuries, he was seriously contemplating teleportation out of the living room and hiding in his bedroom until the holographic pictures floating in the air over Anthony's desk were forgotten.

There was a hand on his forearm again when Fandral thanked the Lady Calliope and Loki belatedly was reminded that she had done him a favor, because not only did he feel like some of the aftereffects of the torture in _the Other's_ clutches had lessened, but he could also move his leg again without fearing another spike of pain or numbness.

"I will be forever in your debt, my lady", the Trickster said, managing to smile and eventually wink at the woman as he bowed his head, making Dr. Torres laugh.

"Yeah, I will remind you of that when my ex-wife goes bitchy at me again when I want to trade dates for keeping my daughter because of an appointment. She does it like three times a week, but every time I can't make it's like the end of the world."

She said her farewells after that, telling the dark-haired Demigod that he should let her know if he had any more problems with his joints.

Fandral had let go off his arm until then, but was still hovering right next to Loki, and now he was following him up the stairs, marching into his bedroom and sitting down on his bed as Loki closed the door behind them, trying to figure out a way to evade this conversation.

He had his back on the other God, hands still closed around the handle.

"What do I have to do so you will not catechize me?" he asked, leaning his forehead against the cold wood.

Fandral did not answer to that, and the silence made Loki turn around, watching the other man.

"I do know that you can shift shapes. I don't think that you would do so this profoundly, though. I also do not believe that some spell misfired. What is going on here, Loki?" The Blonde scrutinized the younger God, trying to make any sense of the scared, sad expression the other man wore by now, hands clasping in front of his body, his gaze slowly lowering to the floor.

"What… what if I told you that the recent picture showed my true self? That the older one showed a disguise Odin enchanted on me not long after I was born, to hide my true features. To hide the monster I am underneath?"

He moved further into the room, trying not to corner the man on the bed. Fandral was not as hotheaded as Thor, Loki did not think the other God would pounce on him if he revealed his secret. In fact, if he really thought about it, Fandral usually was the one who voted for Loki's ideas most of the time and was overruled by Thor, Volstagg, Hogun, and Sif.

It would hurt to lose his friend, now that he had barely gotten him back.

Fandral thwarted his efforts to allow him an easy exit by getting up from the bed and moving up to him. He walked right into his personal space, once more taking his hands.

"Tell me what happened. This did not start the day you were forced to invade Midgard. This started earlier. Even before Thor's coronation." He was guiding Loki now, the Trickster God hesitantly following the Swordsman to sit on his bed.

When he let go off Loki, he folded his hands in his lap, intently watching his fingers. Why didn't he just teleport out of here? Wouldn't it be better for… anyone he knew to remain in blissed ignorance?

"Talk to me, Loki. Please. For the past two years I had to listen to the hateful speculations of Sif how you plotted to gain the throne, how you destroyed the Bifrost, how you prevented Thor's coronation. Thor mourned you until the day he was sent to fetch you, he did not tell us anything. I finally can listen to your side of the tale. What did they do to you? What did we do?"

 _What did I do?_ He did not say it out loud, but his bright blue eyes were trying to catch Loki's gaze that was now lifting from the floor.

"I never wanted the throne!" the dark-haired God exclaimed, before taking a deep breath to calm himself. "I… I wanted to show Odin that Thor was not ready, though. And I was right. I just never thought that he would go to such extremes to avenge his ruined coronation."

Fandral watched him for a few seconds.

"You let the two Jotnar into the weapons vault", he then stated, and Loki nodded.

"I did not think this would escalate so much. I never wanted Thor to be banished, I never… I never wanted to go to Jotunheim, it would have been better if we never went there… All I ever wanted was to be Thor's equal, I wanted some respect, mostly I wanted them to leave me alone, to leave me with my family who loved me, but… bu-but…"

Oh Norns, he had forbidden himself approaching it from this side. Not only had Odin made sure that he never was his brother's equal, he also had destroyed the only joy in his life he ever found. As if keeping Loki miserable was the main goal the All-father ever wanted to achieve. Fandral had already seen him break down in the interrogation room, after _the Other_ had made him mentally re-live the murder of his boys, of Sigyn.

Fandral moved closer, once more the scent of bergamot and mint and leather engulfing him his eyes watered and his hands started shaking.

"And then… and then it finally started making sense… when that Jotun warrior touched me and… and…"

"You know what I think about what Odin did to Sigyn, and Narvi, and Vali. You also know that I never believed that this prophecy they dug out warranted the cold-blooded murder of innocents. Nothing makes sense here, Loki. It was just plain, cruel, murder."

The Swordsman watched how the younger God was shaking right next to him, not knowing whether he should reach out or keep his distance. Green eyes were directed at him again, brimming with unshed tears.

"You would not say this, if you knew… if…"

This made Fandral narrow his eyes, a steep furrow appearing right above his nose.

"There is nothing that could make me justify the murder of innocent children, Loki."

This time he did reach out, clasping those shaking hands in his, looking the younger God directly in the eye.

"Let's start at the beginning. Thor would have been an awful king, this much is clear after the temper tantrum after… well, after almost everything that did not go according to his will. So you let the Jotnar into the vault. You knew Odin would intercept them."

"They… were so eager. You have seen their planet. It is dying. The promise of the casket was all they needed. I… willingly accepted their death for a prank. I am nothing better than Odin himself in all his cruelty…"

"They could have said no. And I do believe they were well aware that the weapons vault is heavily guarded", Fandral reasoned. Two Jotnar against all of Asgard. This mission had been doomed right from the start.

"You… you are not telling me that they are monsters and deserved nothing else… that only a dead Jotun is a good one?"

Fandral sighed. He knew of the tales that people told their children, of the ice monsters that were noting but filthy, ruthless killers and had no other goal than causing the downfall of Asgard. He finally managed to uncurl Loki's fingers, clasping each of these filigree hands in his.

"No race consists solely of monsters, Loki. The war… Thor had not yet finished his first half millennium when it was over, what does he know of the Jotnar? Sif was not even born yet. Volstagg chose to only see the monsters because it was easier. But they also have families, they care for their people. Norns, they have cute, tiny, blue babies, you would never believe they can grow so tall. Laufey did not only lose the war because Odin's army was stronger. The backup from his people was fading the longer the war lasted. In the end there were rumors that even his mate had left Laufey because he would no longer support the slaughter of their own people. The end of this war was not as glorious as Asgard was made to believe."

Loki blinked at the other man. Nobody ever dared to darken the view of a glorious success.

"What happened on Jotunheim, Loki? For me, things are kind of blurry once I was stabbed through my chest by this ice cone", Fandral urged. What had gone so haywire on the ice planet that Loki, calm, considerate, intelligent Loki chose to rely on brute force, on crude displays of power such as sending the destroyer after them?

On trying to annihilate an entire planet?

"What happened?" he repeated, squeezing the other's hands tighter. Loki looked away and refused to meet his eyes.

"One… one of the warriors touched me, and… and… I thought it would hurt, I was prepared for the pain, it would have been nothing compared to… many things that Odin bestowed upon me. B-but the pain never came…" Loki's eyes finally lifted to encounter the blonde God's, brimming with tears.

"Why would he take me in? Why would he raise me as his son? I was raised with nothing but disgust and hatred for the Jotnar, and the naïve child I was wanted to believe them nothing but monsters, vowing to slay them, vowing to keep them in their place. He must have thrived on hearing this. All these years, all these tales, the tales of monsters, he was not narrating to his golden son about a glorious war, but what a monster the foundling he brought home from the battlefield really was. He was telling me in the face what he thought of me and I was happily concurring all the time!"

The tears were finally spilling over, running down the alabaster skin of the Trickster God's cheeks, emerald eyes still locked on the sky blue orbs Fandral was directing at him.

"Loki…?"

Taking a deep breath, the dark-haired man decided to do this fast. He had learned in the past days that he did feel better when telling the truth, when people he cared about had not to worry about him deceiving them. This was the only reason Anthony and the Lady Pepper knew about his Jotun skin and what came with it, gender identity crisis included.

It would hurt to lose Fandral, but at least he could not tell anyone he had been lied at.

"M-my… I was expecting frostbite… instead, my skin turned blue, the glamor Odin cast on me breaking under the cold, under their magic… I do not know why it broke, I thought myself cursed until I confronted Odin in the weapon's vault. I was standing there, holding the Casket of Ancient Winters, feeling my skin change again, briefly hoping for the Destroyer to do its task, to extinguish the Jotun…"

His eyes fell to his lap again, where their hands were still joined, wondering briefly why the other man had not yet let go off him.

"He told me that he found me on the battlefield, close to a temple, so small for my race, cast out to die. He told me that he took me with him because I was but a child, innocent and unaware of the cruelties around me. He told me that I was Laufey's son, the son of his enemy, and that he took me in for a reason, but now that Thor had invaded Jotunheim, all the purpose I ever had was null and void. And what was once a token to broker and keep peace, was now only a burden…"

Loki had to stop there, a sob freeing itself from his throat. Odin had not bothered giving him a real explanation or the confirmation that this was not only a cruel joke. Odinsleep was such a convenient escape at that time. Of course he would be up and running again to save Thor from falling into the Void.

The pressure of Fandral's hands against his had increased in the meantime. When Loki lifted his gaze again, he could see that the other God was fuming, grinding his teeth.

He could not even muster up the energy to prepare for anything that might come from the Ås. He could only hope that it would be fast, and that Fandral would leave, maybe climb up to the roof to demand from Heimdall to get Thor and relieve him of his duty as Loki's bodyguard.

"Oh, Odin is such a hypocrite!" was what Fandral exclaimed, before letting go off Loki and jumping up from the bed, burying his hands in his hair as he started pacing. He only took one turn from wall to wall before stopping in the middle of the room, looking at Loki again.

"He told you that he found you at a temple, left to die?"

Loki nodded. "He said I was too small, a runt, a… you have seen those giants…" He was an abomination not even the Frost Giants wanted to keep. Why did Fandral look like he wanted to rip out his hair?

"And he told you that you are Laufey's son?"

Another nod. This somehow was not turning out the way Loki had imagined. Fandral appeared outraged. However, it seemed not to be because of the other God in the room and his secrets revealed.

Fandral was still burying his fingers in his hair, his hands slowly sliding to the back of his head, his head slowly tilting back, closing his eyes.

"No wonder they are calling Odin a murderer and a thief."

When the blonde God finally lowered his head again and looked at the man sitting on the bed, Loki was wearing the most confused expression he had ever seen. Fandral still had not lowered his hands from his head, the fingers digging into the golden strands.

"And you absolutely did not think I would react this way", the Swordsman stated, almost laughing when Loki nodded again, big green eyes trained at him, following him as he finally lowered his arms and went back to the bed, sitting down heavily next to the Trickster God.

"I always thought because it was of the Casket. Had I known…"

He did not know what he would have done. In the beginning, the war had made sense, the Jotnar had invaded Midgard, trying to expand in the same way Asgard acquired Vanaheim… well, not exactly in the same way – Odin had married Frigga. Laufey had chosen a violent approach.

At some point the fight had relocated from Midgard to Jotunheim. Fandral did not remember how much time the Asgardian army had spent on the planet that was inhabited by the mortals. They had arrived only minutes after the Jotnar had invaded, the humans were still fleeing from the Giants. He had not thought about this back then, but obviously, Odin had known of the planned invasion, and had mobilized his army.

It obviously never had occurred to the All-father that warning the inhabitants of the planet to be invaded might have been prudent, showing once more what he thought of any other life form than the Æsir. In a way, he still thought of the mortals as insignificant low lives, a view that many Æsir shared by now, having been taught of their superiority for so many millennia that they really believed it to be true. Who knew what the mortals would have come up with had they known of the danger?

After all, only five of them, together with Thor, had managed to thwart the efforts of the Mad Titan. Well, Loki had also played a big role. Still, this was something else than leading armies of thousands of men against each other on foreign soil.

Fandral let himself fall back onto the mattress with a huff, closing his eyes.

"Laufey's son, huh?"

Loki just turned a bit, watching the other man, still trying to grasp what was happening here. He had counted on… he did not really know what he had thought Fandral would do. He definitely had not expected this reaction.

"So I was told…" he answered, frowning at the tiny smirk that made it to Fandral's face.

"So I still have to call you _Prince_ Loki?"

The Trickster God could not help but snort amusedly at this question. The tiny smile quickly faded, though, when the thought about how he had ended Laufey's life. Fandral continued speaking without even thinking about opening his eyes.

"Don't worry too much about Laufey. He was not well liked by his own people already during the war. I know not whether there ever were any diplomatic approaches from his side, or if Odin blocked everything coming from Jotunheim on principle. Those two were some old fools, quarreling over already millennia old issues. The invasion of Midgard was the final straw. They broke a peace that had lasted since King Bölthorn decided that his daughter Bestla was to be wed to Borr. Laufey never approved that his sister married an Ås, and…"

A slim-fingered hand landed on the blonde God's thigh.

"B-Bestla? Odin's mother was…?" Fandral looked up as Loki addressed him. Oh, yes. Odin never spoke about his mother and the long-lasting peace and friendship between Asgard and Jotunheim before Laufey ascended the throne. The Jotnar were enemies, had always been, and Odin had made sure that everything that pointed to any other relationships was swept under the rug. There were few people left on Asgard that were older than Odin and knew, it had been easy at some point to hide his own heritage. It was convenient to forget about something like that when you had a common foe to concentrate on.

"A Frost Giant. Odin is half-Jotun. Thor's grandmother is your aunt. Huh, so you do share some blood. Not as closely related as brothers, but cousins to some degree…" While Fandral grinned, Loki just stared at him.

"So I will never get rid of that oaf?"

Fandral actually laughed now, tugging at Loki's emerald green sleeve to also make him lie down on the mattress, shifting them both until their heads were on the pillows. Then, he crossed his hands behind his head, crossed his ankles after toeing his shoes off, and stared at the ceiling.

"So… Jotun, hm?"

Loki mirrored his position.

"Yep."

"Do you have any questions? What the Lady Calliope showed us does actually make sense if you were born a Khunsa, you know?"

Loki just turned his head, black hair curling slightly as it was still drying from his shower earlier, meeting Fandral's glance.

"Odin put a glamor on me. I did not even know until… it… broke completely when I teleported Anthony, due to the core of his reactor having rather negative interactions with magic. The first scan was made the day after I was captured… J.A.R.V.I.S. pointed out some rather obvious changes once the glamor broke… that also my skeletal features had been altered I did not know. I guess it was just another reason for the Jotnar to abandon me at this temple."

Fandral sighed.

"Nobody abandoned you at this temple, Loki. Khunsa, those of both genders, are rare, also on Jotunheim, most worlds have annihilated them because they are not the norm. The Jotnar never were this narrow-minded, and I can only agree, after all, the Khunsa offer the best of both worlds", the Swordsman said with a lecherous grin that made Loki roll his eyes.

"Farbauti, Laufey's mate, was one. It does make sense, you know? They are smaller, they have a natural endowment for wielding more than simple ice-magic. They never would have abandoned you. I do believe that Farbauti was seeking shelter in that temple. And Odin saw a possibility to end the war."

So… Odin had not only stolen an ancient relic that was essential for the survival of the planet, but also Laufey's child. He could only speculate what had happened to Laufey's mate back then.

Turning to his side, Loki stuffed his pillow in place under his head.

"You are incredibly indifferent to this entire situation. I am of the race of Asgard's sworn enemies, the monster that parents tell their children about at night, you… you were fighting them, Fandral… you…"

Also Fandral turned, facing the Trickster now, keeping himself from reaching out, also curling around a pillow to keep his hands busy."

"I was fighting warriors. I am a soldier, Loki, yet I am sure that on Jotunheim I am called a monster as well, at least by Laufey's supporters. It's the winners who write the history, you should know this better than I, you are the smart one of us, Loki. I will not hold your race against you, it is something you neither chose nor can change. It is who you always were, you just did not know it. It would not mention it to Sif if I were you, though."

Loki grimaced at that. He preferred not talking to Sif at all, if he had the choice.

"There are many things one should not mention to Sif. You never mentioned that you still had a family."

"You don't mention among Æsir royalty and a frustrated amazon that you are not of equal breed. You know how she treats her servants. It just would have given her another reason to criticize my way of living, as if it was any of her business that I am paying my servants rather than feeding them with scraps and leftovers. As if it was any of her business who I invite into my life or who I am friends with. The son of a lowly peasant, that is what I would be for her, no matter my rank or my experience. Yet my servants are loyal and content, and do not spit into my food or every drink they deliver to me."

A sincere Fandral was a rare thing to observe. He was always wearing a smile, always talking in innuendos, and now that Loki thought about it, it was very often to deflect aggravating questions.

"That does not surprise me. Remind me not to eat at her quarters again."

Fandral smiled at that.

"Oh, my dear Prince, you really do not know your worth, do you?"

Fandral obviously talked to his servants. And they were talking with him. In the next few hours, Loki found out that his presumptions about the view of the royalty, the members of the court, maybe also a part of the army and the guards had of him was quite accurate.

He never thought that the lower classes begged to differ. He never thought that tiny gestures like cleaning up a room that Thor, the Warriors Three and Sif had destroyed in a feast with his magic would gain him bonus points with the cleaning personal.

He never knew that the chef had a soft spot for him because he did not only order roast boar, and roast boar, and roast boar. Who knew the man would strive on creating new combinations of whatever food Asgard had to offer.

One of his maids obviously had a huge crush on him since he unknowingly had saved her from the unwanted advances from a guard.

At some point during the night, J.A.R.V.I.S. dimmed the lights, observing how the two men chatted, and, eventually, fell asleep.

The artificial intelligence increased the temperature in the room, as the two Gods chose to sleep above the covers. He also completely switched off the lights and tinted the windows to keep the lights of the town out.

He had listened in on the conversation of the Masters Loki and Fandral, delighted that the dark-haired God appeared to have more supporters than he had thought.

A few levels beneath the Penthouse, Miss Lewis had fallen asleep with her book in her hands. J.A.R.V.I.S. also switched off the lights there, briefly checking also on Dr. Foster, who still seemed so intrigued by the data MARK VII had acquired in the Void that she forwent sleep.

Agent Barton and Mr. Holmes had watched another movie together before retiring.

Agent Romanoff had left the tower without approaching any of them.

Mr. Rogers had sat in his room, staring at the wall. J.A.R.V.I.S. had not talked to him directly, waiting for the Soldier's decision or for an attempt to seek advice.

Dr. Banner was also sleeping soundly, and also _Sir's_ medical squadron had gone to bed.

Dr. Avery was watching in awe how Dr. Kepner was feeding their daughter.

Mrs. Stark had finally closed her eyes and stopped crying.

J.A.R.V.I.S. would watch over them, the entire night.


	21. When wisdom fails

_**Chapter 21: When wisdom fails**_

 _It's a beautiful day to save lives. (Derek Shepherd)_

* * *

Owen Hunt was not a person who easily panicked. After all, this would have been a disastrous character trait for a trauma surgeon who spent his time saving the lives of soldiers in war zones, bullets sometimes literally flying too close to his head. His ability to remain calm under stressful situations was what made him a good leader, a good doctor, a source of steadiness for all the people surrounding him.

Also now, he radiated this calm, as he was talking to his brother-in-law, even though normally he was not present when his patients were prepared for surgery and anesthetized.

Tony was family, though, and he really liked the other man, he was bringing out his protectiveness without even trying to, so, while under different circumstances, he would have hesitated performing such a major surgical intervention on someone related to him, he wanted to make sure that the engineer was as comfortable as possible.

Moreover, he knew his team, and he knew they were _good_. He wouldn't want anybody else to perform with them.

What did not really help was that Tony looked like he was going to jump off the table any second now, cables attached to him, and hoses going in and coming out of him be damned.

Ginny had looked as if she was going to faint any second when they had lead her out of the patient room Tony had occupied before, sharing a goodbye kiss and some threats of eternal diaper duty that made Tony laugh halfheartedly. Loki and Bruce were waiting for her outside the room, Fandral also was hovering around, and, curiously enough, also Miss Lewis was there.

Ben Warren and Bokhee were preparing Tony with him. Owen had chosen the veteran nurse and the older doctor on purpose. The anesthetist would make sure that Tony drifted off as easily as possible, and he would closely observe him.

Bokhee, while being small and diminutive, had this way to look at you over her glasses that made you want to be a good boy and eat all of your spinach even though you hated the green stuff.

Owen was pretty sure she was the only reason why Tony had not yet bailed on them.

The engineer was leaning back on the surgery table, closely watching as Ben attached another drip to the IV pole and placed the inhalation mask over his mouth and nose. The dark-skinned man smiled at him, his movements fast and secure, a telltale of years of experience.

"Ok… so… Uh, do you want me to count from 100 backwards? Or… I dunno… can you just talk to me? Please? Last time I had surgery I kinda just passed out because the only other option for anesthesia was a hammer to my head, and I really could've lived without the image of a scalpel coming closer to my chest before…", the younger man rambled, his voice dulled by the mask, and Owen instinctively reached out for his hand, squeezing it as the pace of the heart monitor increased a bit.

The redhead doctor chose an approach to calm the other man he had seen his sister use. Remind him where he was. Tell him of the situation.

"Last time you had surgery was in a cave in Afghanistan. This is your tower in New York, the medical bay is stuffed full of high end equipment, even though J.A.R.V.I.S. is looking down on every single screw of it, and I guess rightfully so, huh?"

Tony nodded at that, throwing a nervous glance at Bokhee as if he was still calculating his chances of winning against her when he started to run now.

Then he looked at Owen again, his glance so anxious. If the surgeon had not seen him take on the threat posed by the Quinjet that tried to attack the Penthouse, he would have never thought that Tony Stark actually was a person who worked quite well under pressure.

"Tell me I'm not running out of luck. Not now, not when I finally have found…" he started to slur, and Owen squeezed his hand.

"… not when I finally have found… her…"

The surgeon smiled reassuringly.

"Tones, we have Cristina Yang, the best cardiothoracic surgeon you will find, and don't tell her I said that, her ego is big enough. We have Calliope Torres whose bread and butter is repairing bones and preserving limbs. You have me, and believe me, I've patched up worse with people living to tell the story. Ben is a kickass anesthetist, Avery will work his magic, and in the last resort, we have a Norse Healing Goddess. What could possibly go wrong?!"

Tony sent him a lopsided grin as his eyelids started dropping.

"'m gonna haunt you 'f you off me…", the engineer threatened, making Owen snort behind his surgical mask.

"Please, all _you_ have to do is sleep. We have to do all the hard work."

Tony mumbled something about 12 percent as his eyes closed completely, and also the rhythm of his heart calmed down. Ben nodded at Owen and as if on cue the first people started entering the OR, hands sterile and ready to go.

The trauma surgeon softly released Tony's hand, leaving the room to scrub in and join his doctors.

They had freed the area on Tony's chest they would be working on for the next hours, the reactor gleaming in this ethereal blue glow and humming softly, its loose casing surrounded by clotted blood and scars. However, they had not started, yet.

It was Cristina who handed the scalpel to him, looking at him with a silent plea. The others also seemed to be waiting for something.

Eír appeared slightly uncomfortable in the clothes, hairnet, mask and gloves she had been told to wear. The garments would not interfere with her abilities, yet, she felt odd in them. She threw a glance at the doctors, all of them seemingly to wait for something to happen, the dark-haired _cardiologist_ holding out one of the sharp knives to the tall man at the other side of the table.

Owen finally took a deep breath before accepting the scalpel, his gaze fixed on Cristina before straying to Callie. Both women looked at him expectantly.

"It's a beautiful day to save lives", was what he said, borrowing the phrase from a dear lost friend, and obviously, this was not only the right thing to say, but it also was the signal to start.

The surgeons set out to tackle steps one till four on their list: Remove the old reactor casing, get the old reactor out, get a regular pacemaker in, and assess the damage.

* * *

Darcy Lewis was wondering whether it was possible to walk a ditch into marble floor, because that obviously was the goal Pepper Potts… err, Stark, had set herself today.

Not that she did not also feel like pacing. You did not learn every day that your you were the maybe-daughter of a national icon, that your maybe-brother who was nothing like the media painted him, needed urgent cardiothoracic surgery.

She had woken up after a restless night and found herself heading to the elevator, asking J.A.R.V.I.S. if she was allowed up there if she made breakfast for everybody. She was in the middle of nuking bacon, making scrambled eggs, frying sausages, brewing coffee, and whipping up some cupcake dough when one of the doors on the upper level opened.

Fandral was sneaking down, lifting his head and closing his eyes as he first smelled the godly odors of breakfast. He seemed to be torn between joining her in the kitchen and going towards the elevator to leave for the guest levels.

"Walk of shame, big guy? At least somebody had fun last night", the young woman joked, watching how the God flinched at her words as he decided to take the detour into the kitchen.

"Believe me, fair Lady Darcy, there would be no one more delighted than me should yesterevening have taken this turn. I was following my duty as a friend, though, something I have neglected for far too long. And if only I could ease Loki's mind for a few hours, it was worth it… even if he will never…" He stopped himself from revealing more.

By the time the blonde God had sat down, a plate with food appeared in front of him.

"So your very manly man-crush affections are not returned, Errol? Sorry to hear that, you two would make a cute couple", she grinned, before scooping also some sausages on his plate, followed by a generous amount of ketchup, ignoring how Fandral flustered at her question..

"Taste it before you diss it", she said as he ogled the red stuff suspiciously, handing over some cutlery. She put the rest of the food to the side to keep it warm, and then turned to the baking tray to get the first batch of cupcakes into the oven.

"How is he?" she asked when all Fandral did was eating quietly, watching her as she filled the dough into the molds while he at some point eagerly was licking the red sauce off his fork. Darcy just grinned. She would not eat raw tomatoes if her life depended on it – but after they had been processed to the marvel that good ketchup was, she'd bathe in the stuff if one let her.

"We… talked last night. I… I never realized how bad of a father Odin was, how bad of a home Asgard was, how bad a friend I have been… If letting him cry in my arms and sleep in my embrace is what it takes to make him feel better, I will gladly offer." This sounded sadder than he wanted.

Darcy just looked at him for a while before turning back to her dough.

"You know, in my ears that sounds like you are a pretty awesome friend in the moment."

The God simply returned to his breakfast.

Half an hour later people started pouring into the Penthouse, lured to the kitchen by the smell of breakfast, coffee, and fresh cake.

Fandral was on his second plate, declining the generous offer of a tiny cake because after inquiring the ingredients he found out that Darcy had used butter as well as milk which did never agree with his stomach, just as Loki stepped down the stairs, helping Stark like all those days before, the Lady Pepper following them closely. Both Gods evaded each other's glances by the time they were in the same area of the Penthouse, Loki helping to sit Stark down on the couch before disappearing into a corner after getting some coffee, some granola, and a Stark Pad.

Pepper was nibbling on some bacon before accepting one of the fresh cupcakes, never leaving Tony's side who was complaining that he was not even allowed coffee. Bruce shuffled out of his room only minutes later, being on his third cupcake when the redhead hottie doctor, Cristina Yang and Callie Torres appeared. They were also gladly accepting breakfast, and praising Darcy's eggs in a way that made her blush, before whisking Tony away to the medical bay.

The rest of the people in the Penthouse just trailed along. It was Loki who awkwardly looped his arm around Pepper when she left the patient room, struggling to maintain her composure. Darcy was, for some weird reason, not faring much better, actually, she felt quite close to tears, and Darcy Lewis did not cry, nope, nope, nope. So she simply sniffled, before following Fandral and Bruce into the elevator.

Pepper had not immediately started with pacing. She had settled down on the couch, grabbing a Stark Pad, reading something. It had put their very own Trickster God at ease enough to ask for the last one of the cupcakes and hiding back in his corner with his own tablet, far, far away from Fandral.

The Blonde was equipped with another Pad by J.A.R.V.I.S., sitting in the living room area, getting a start on playing angry birds.

Bruce excused himself at some point, mumbling something about paying Jane and the telemetric data a visit.

It was too quiet (if you neglected the sounds those birds made after being fired off by a slingshot).

So by the time Pepper Stark started pacing, Darcy Lewis very much felt like pacing, too. She was busy, though, with baking another batch of cupcakes, after the medical squad and who else had breakfast had polished off everything she had made before. J.A.R.V.I.S. had been a dear to organize for soy milk and some vegetable fat, so also their lactose intolerant God could have some cake.

Baking was calming.

It allowed her to focus.

To observe.

She bet that Fandral was completely unaware of the tiny glances the Trickster God at the other end of the room was sending him every now and then. She was wondering what their story was, was wondering what made the Swordsman so protective of the guy that had sent the Destroyer to Puente Antiguo.

Actually, she thought that she should be more pissed at Loki, after all, he had endangered her life. However, what little she had seen of him in the past few days did not paint the picture of a ruthless murderer, a crazed out psychopath.

Witnessing how everybody appeared to want to make sure that the Demigod was feeling comfortable, the sheer protectiveness Tony had displayed already during the press conference, the way Thor was making sure that his baby brother was safe, it made her decide that maybe he did not deserve being chewed out about it the way she had planned, should she ever meet him.

She was lacking her taser, anyway.

So she resorted to secretly watching them, trying to figure out what might have happened the previous night.

* * *

Fandral did not know when they had drifted off to sleep, or when Loki had scooted closer. What he knew was that when he woke up in the middle of the night, briefly wondering why he was still wearing his regular getup in bed, he had turned to his side, his arms loosely closed around the slim body right next to him.

Loki was not hugging him back, his arms were folded in front of his chest, his hands resting above his heart, his head pillowed against the blonde God's chest, breathing softly. Still, since one of Fandral's arms was under the Trickster God's body, he was trapped there if he did not want to wake the other man. And Loki really looked like he could use the rest.

Unconsciously, the Blonde hugged him a little closer, burying his nose against Loki's hair. It had been more than a century ago when he had woken up in a similar position, the first time that the other man had not made him leave directly after intercourse or a few minutes of cuddling. Fandral knew he was a substitute back then, a means to, at least for a little while, forget about Sigyn, to forget about the boys and the betrayal by the royal family. A tiny bit of him had hoped it might turn into more, eventually. He had no clue how it might have worked out in the end, after all, Loki was a Prince, and while Fandral's status as lothario was well accepted, same-gender relationships were not. Not at all.

He had been on one of his rare visits to his family, his mother being the only one who was happy to see him, when the murder of Loki's family had taken place. Thor ended up with a broken nose when he was bragging to his shield brother about his glorious task fulfilled for Odin, and Fandral was pretty sure that back then, the older Odinson had not really understood why his friend confronted him this directly and violently.

He and Sif never had been the best friends, but ever since these events had taken place, ever since he knew about her favoring the murder of innocent people, children even, simply by the excuse a dubious prophecy gave, he was even wearier around her.

Volstagg never opened his mouth again concerning the murder of Loki's family when Fandral very graphically described what could happen to his wife and children if Odin was in a bad mood.

Hogun did not say anything, but then, he rarely talked. He observed, though, closely. Too closely, as they would learn later.

After throwing a few more scathing looks at his 'friends', Fandral took the younger God out of the room and back to his own chambers, sat him down on one of the green velvet sofas there, equipped him with a mug of mead and just sat there, on a chair, drinking, at some point grabbing one of Loki's books and starting to read. He had learned quite a lot during that time.

It took a few days of doing so to convince Loki that this was not just some conspiracy to gloat over his pain.

The Swordsman had bit his tongue to keep from declaring that he would chose Loki's company over that of child murderers any time, because that would have come out just wrong.

When those big green eyes looked at him one day, brimming with tears, a hushed voice asking "Why did they spare me? Why could they not simply kill me, too?" Fandral had sat down right next to Loki, gathering him in his arms, reminiscing about this frightened boy who faced down the older brutes in his class for the very first time.

How this had ended them up in bed, the younger God screaming himself hoarse, while Fandral was biting down hard on the other man's shoulder when they climaxed, he did not really remember. What he remembered was how embarrassed Loki had been afterwards, having taken the receiving role (and enjoying it), and how flustered he was when Fandral nonchalantly offered to switch things up the next time.

Despite having lived for almost two millennia, Loki was still so young, so biased by what Asgard believed to be the norm. Fandral had left his home for more than one reason. Men did not lie with men, his father, his entire family had been scandalized when finding out that the youngest son did not make any differences in gender concerning the people he took to bed.

It was an advantage, having made it into Thor's illustrious round of merry men. He was allowed to have his quirks. Volstagg was the big bear who could out-eat everyone in this realm. Hogun was the grim, strong, quiet one. Fandral willingly played the role of the enticer. Not even Sif was commenting on his tastes. Being a peasant was by far worse to her, it seemed.

And even though he threw Fandral out after this first night, and every night that followed after that first fateful one, Loki came back, so curious, so touch starved, never even mentioning the other God's offer to switch.

The night Loki had fallen asleep in his arms, Fandral had been elated and dared starting to think over his life. He was closer to Volstagg in age than to any of the others, even though he had kept himself in a better shape, most people believed him younger than Thor. Maybe it would be nice, settling down, having a significant other instead of a woman or man in every port.

He never got around to telling Loki any of these thoughts, first of all because the younger man still was traumatized by the loss of his family, he would not spring this on him so soon.

Also, Loki never showed up for their next secret meeting. Fandral found him a few hours later, in a hallway, bleeding, broken, limping horribly, and refusing to be taken to a healer. He was still wondering that the dark-haired God had allowed him to help cleaning him up, seeing the injuries the offender had caused.

"You have to tell someone, Loki."

"Whom should I tell, Fandral? My father who ordered to assassinate my wife and children? My mother who knew about the prophecy and decided to choose him over me? My brother, who actively participated? Who? Tell me, who would believe me?!"

He sat down next to Loki, watching how the green glimmer of his magic still roamed over the Trickster, working on his injuries. He flinched away, when the Blonde reached out.

"Tell me."

Loki had sighed at this, sadly looking at the other man, it was clear that he did not believe that it would change anything. Loki was no stranger to torture, Odin had taken care of that. The way he narrated his story, neither was he a stranger to rape. Fandral did not want to believe when he learned who the aggressor was – but what reason would Loki have to lie?

He had watched the Trickster sleep that night, perched on a chair in a corner, as Loki refused to let him get closer, but was too exhausted to fight Fandral's stubborn refusal to leave, had watched how he jerked awake only to cry himself back into sleep. It hurt the blonde God how his friend took everything that was done to him for granted, not even seeking help, and in a way, this happened out of self-preservation. Odin was rather unpredictable when it came to his sense of justice. He could smite Loki's aggressor as well as he could decide that his second son was simply lying – and punish Loki for asking for help

It was then that he swore that this time the person who had harmed his friend would be pay for what was done.

Fandral had waited up for Hogun the next day. The Vanir never was talkative, but he was wearing a grin that the other God wanted to wipe off his face the moment he saw him, cursing himself for having had the tiniest doubt in Loki's tale. Hogun had the nerve to grin at him, and in one of the rare occasions he did talk, he tried to compare their experiences with Asgard's second Prince.

The Swordsman's foil only left one obvious wound, slicing the Vanir's left cheek open. The other injuries he caused Hogun kept well hidden, and he dared not approaching Loki anymore. Hogun was strong. But Fandral was swift. And precise. He knew exactly which nerves to sever without causing too much collateral damage.

Fandral had sheathed his rapier, staring at the man on the floor, blood seeping between his fingers that were clutching his crotch. He had made sure that Hogun would not be able to repeat his deed.

"And if you want to keep it for pissing, I will never see you in Loki's vicinity again."

Hogun indeed stayed away, but also Loki kept distancing himself, and at some point, Fandral supposed, he just gave up fighting for their friendship the more times he was rejected.

He regretted this now, more than anything else in his life. Loki had only revealed tiny glimpses of what had happened since the fateful day of Thor's coronation, and Fandral had the feeling that things would have turned out different if the Trickster God had had at least one person to rely on in Asgard. One person to have his back.

Instead, he had no-one, he did not know who he was, and everybody else was once more running after Thor.

No wonder that he snapped.

Fandral pulled the man in his arms closer, his lips pressing against the crown of Loki's head.

"I am sorry…" he whispered. "Norns, I am so sorry…"

The other God did not react, even though Fandral was not really sure if Loki was asleep or not. With him you never knew.

At least he did not jump out of his arms as if he had been burned. That was an improvement, after all.

With that in mind, Fandral closed his eyes again, a tiny smile on his lips. He would cope with a night spent in his regular clothes, it would not be the first night spent like this. If he could make his friend feel save, give him one carefree night, this would be worth it.

* * *

Cristina had forgotten that Eír was even in the room when she started working on Tony. The Goddess was standing at the head end of the table, next to Ben, and the cardiologist rarely looked at the anesthetist when she was working. She was trusting that they were doing their job, keeping the patients under and pain free while she was doing the hard work.

She gritted her teeth as Owen made the first cut, seeing the casing move as the scalpel pressed down. A cave. A fucking cave in fucking Afghanistan with a physicist who had his anatomical knowledge simply due to the fact that this kind of injuries happened there any day. In a way, Tony Stark was lucky that war was a regular occurrence in this part of the world.

It still didn't mean that he deserved surgery in a cave without any proper anesthesia or analgesia, the actual surgery performed with instruments that resembled a rusty spoon better than anything you would find in a regular OR.

It was not easy to remove the casing. They had to keep the reactor in place as good as possible while removing skin, wire, and whatever else Ho Yinsen had used to fix the casing to the bone. The minute the magnet was moved or they pulled at one of the wires, the rhythm of the heart became unstable, it was accelerating, something that gave Cristina a headache. If the sinus node was affected, Tony's heartrate should be decreasing without the pacemaker.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., is there any shrapnel close to the superior vena cava? Is there _anything_ that might be putting pressure on the node when we move the reactor?" They had looked at this. She had detailed scans of everything, she knew this heart, inside out. And still, it did not react the way it was supposed to do."

" _There are no metal shards, Dr. Yang. There appears to be scar tissue that reaches into the epicardium, though."_

Cristina did not know whether the AI had updated his equipment in the OR or was extrapolating from the scans they already had. She was cursing nevertheless that they had overseen this.

"Might put pressure on the node, therefore having it firing faster. I guess there was one of the metal pieces that were removed, ", Owen offered oh so helpfully, making her look up briefly before turning back to the reactor.

"But then there has to be something that keeps it from putting pressure on it when the magnet is working", Callie piped up, her hands working faster on the casing.

" _There is a shard close to the sinus venarum",_ J.A.R.V.I.S. offered, not continuing with a diagnosis because he was still evaluating the scans he had.

"If that's somehow hooked into the tissue, the magnet might provide enough leverage to pull the scar tissue away from the sinus node." Owen watched how Cristina's hands stilled for a second, her almond shaped eyes searching his again.

"If we remove the shard or the magnet, his heart's gonna react like a rodeo bull", Dr. Torres sighed, before directing her eyes at Eír. "I guess there will be a lot of work for you… once we figured out to get him off his reactor…"

"Well, we still need to get that thing out, they might as well have fixed the casing with chewing gum in that fricking cave. J.A.R.V.I.S., how far can we remove the magnet before it's losing its effect on the shards?"

The AI remained silent for a few moments before announcing that the effect of the magnet should still be strong enough about two feet over _Sir's_ chest."

Dark eyes locked on sky blue ones again, before the cardiologist turned, looking at the Asgardian healer. "D'ya think that's far enough for your Mojo to work?" Because they would need it to work. If they removed the shard, there was nothing to keep the scar tissue away from the sinus node anymore, driving Tony's heart into a constant arrhythmia.

Eír just looked at her. How was she supposed to know that? In the moment, this thing inside the mortal's chest kept her from telling even the simplest things, she could not even diagnose if he had a cold!

"I… I can only answer this question once the reactor was removed, Lady Cristina. The element is blocking my skills, I only have a very faint image of the Lord Stark in the moment." And _faint_ was the understatement of the century. She was not even sure if a soul forge would have helped. In the moment, any scan, any image the mortals could provide of the Man of Iron's interiors was better than her grip on the situation.

Her answer only caused another sigh, both mortal doctors once more seeking eye contact, as if they were communicating without words.

"Okay… change of plans", Cristina announced.

"We need something to hold the magnet in place over the chest. Once it's out, we will see if we need the regular pacemaker, or not, and then we'll take care of the casing and the bones. Eír, you will let us know if the reactor is far enough away. If not, we have to figure out a way to remove the scar tissue to stabilize the rhythm. Only then I will remove the other shrapnel."

Eír witnessed in awe how in a matter of thirty minutes the Lady Calliope and Lord Stark's ethereal voice from the ceiling manufactured something out of metal plates and rods that J.A.R.V.I.S. provided that might hold the reactor. Little did she know that the other woman was constructing metal cages to stabilize all sorts of broken bones all the time, it was a piece of cake to fabricate something to hold a magnet at a certain height. In the meantime, her colleagues were still working on the casing.

When the construction was securely fastened to the overhead lights, Dr. Hunt had finished cutting thread and removing scarred skin and announced that he would remove the reactor now.

With the first quick turn, Tony's heart rate increased, having the surgeon slow down instantly. All of them were observing the monitor as Owen continued, steady hands turning the reactor further until it came loose.

Thankfully without any further leaps in the heart rate.

While Owen slowly removed the reactor, fastening it to Callie's holder still very close to Tony's body, Cristina sighed once more.

Well. Of course it would not be as easy as they had thought. This was Tony Stark, after all. He was known not to be an easy patient.

Once the reactor was fixed, they started to lift the entire construct carefully, to still have all of the shrapnel in the magnet's field while providing them the most space to be able to work.

They had not even managed half a foot when Eír gasped, her hands reaching out to cradle the sides of Tony's head, her gloved fingers slightly digging into the hairnet he was wearing and the thick brunet curls beneath it.

* * *

Heads snapped around at the sound of a shattering cup as the porcelain met the marble floor, just in time to see Loki's head fly back against the headrest of his chair, his fingers of the other hand losing their grip on the tablet computer which was dropping into his lap.

His hand that had been holding said cup was clawing at his chest, right over his heart, and he was panting as the first people rushed over to figure out what was wrong. It took him a while to focus on his breathing, to force away the onslaught of emotions, of this weird experience of another person's bodily functions and health status that he had heard of experienced healers witnessing sometimes.

This was what Anthony would have felt like to him had he not had the reactor in his chest, and it made his skin itch that the other man had to live with this – shattered bones, metal piercing his skin, shredding his muscles, threatening his life, a gaping hole filled by even more metal to house the device that would save his life.

He could feel the slight remnants of the poisoning Anthony had mentioned, his liver and his stomach had suffered and not been completely restored by purging the heavy metal from his system. It must have been hard to keep any food down back then, maybe he had relied on a liquid diet that would be easier to digest.

Eír would be able to heal these things. He was not so sure about the damage that had been done to the nerve bundle that was setting the pace of Anthony's heart, but he was no trained healer.

She could not do anything about the missing part of the sternum, even though she could heal the fractured part of it. But this had already been included in the plan with the artificial ribcage. J.A.R.V.I.S. had been surprisingly fast with providing plans for it and manufacturing it later on, obviously only having waited for the best opportunity to help his creator.

From the glimpses he had taken on the plans, the new housing of the rector would be far more comfortable for Anthony, neither putting pressure on his lungs or his battered chest. He did not even want to imagine the kind of pain the engineer had been in on a daily basis. If he had to keep the magnet in his chest, this was at least favorable to the current situation…

"… should get one of the doctors? He's not responding to _anything_!"

Loki was blinking to that, ripped out of his musings, realizing that he was still clawing his own chest. Lady Pepper's hand was resting on his shoulder. Fandral was halfway squatting in front of him, his hands reaching both sides of his head just now, making him look at the other God.

Loki instantly loathed the fact that he caused his friend this much distress, the Swordsman was worrying already enough for him, and yes, he knew that Fandral worried.

He did not yet know what to make out of that fact, though.

"Loki. Say something. What happened?"

He focused on the face of the warrior in front of him, wondering how Fandral would look if he trimmed his beard in a different way, maybe more like Anthony, and got his hair cut. It was falling into his eyes. He liked Fandral's eyes. They were smiling at him when the Blonde smiled. It was something that he saw very rarely in other people.

"Ok, that's it. J.A.R.V.I.S., Loki just had a stroke or something. Call an ambulance, or get one of the doctors up here, we need help."

That had been the Lady Darcy's voice. The entire Penthouse still smelt like the cupcakes she had made, they had been delicious. Fandral had been skeptical at first when she told him that the second batch would be made in a way that also he could process them without the bloating and belly cramps.

Nobody on Asgard cared if you could not digest certain food groups. Humans obviously found ways around those ailments.

Loki was happy that Fandral could eat cake now.

" _I cannot detect anything that would point to a stroke, Miss Lewis. I have notified Dr. Kepner, nevertheless. She and Dr. Avery will be here in a minute"_ , the AI announced, also sounding slightly worried due to the lack of response from their resident Demigod.

He started to really snap out of his stupor once a flash light was shone into his eyes. Again. It made him turn his head away and squeeze his eyes shut to get rid of the spots he was seeing now, his hand that still had been clawing his chest reaching up to wipe it over his face.

"Why do you mortals insist on shining blinding light into one's eyes?!" he questioned the woman with the auburn hair in front of him once he could open his eyes again.

"Well, the reflexes of your pupils at least tell us something about your brain function, when certain Gods decide to take a vacation in their mind without informing anyone!" the redhead doctor scolded him before holding up her hand, her forefinger sticking out. "Follow my finger with your eyes!"

Loki did as ordered before he had even the time to frown, and focused his gaze on the group of people behind her once she lowered her hand, grabbing his wrist to take his pulse.

Her former husband and father of her child was standing there, the baby sleeping in his arms. The Lady Darcy had closed up to them to take a look at the tiny girl.

Fandral and the Lady Pepper were still hovering close by.

"Okay, I cannot find anything obvious, could have been an epileptic episode. We should take you to a hospital… or downstairs, I guess Mr. Stark has all the equipment that we need to perform a few tests."

Loki sighed at that, finally sitting up straighter in his chair. He was not used to people fussing over him. Worrying about him. It was a strange feeling to him, leaving him flustered and wondering what those people might want in return. He was not quite sure he had anything he could offer them.

"I assure you, Dr. Kepner, it is nothing serious", he said, even if he did not know what an epileptic episode was. The woman looked everything but convinced.

His eyes briefly flickered to the Lady Pepper before he continued.

"Anthony's reactor has been removed. I do believe that Eír might have had a similar reaction to the element no longer shielding his body. I am an experienced mage, but not a trained healer… the… reveal… of the damage took me by surprise."

He held Lady Pepper's gaze, observed how her eyes started to water because she obviously had prepared herself for the worst and now feared it coming true.

"Anthony will be fine", he said, aiming a small smile at his savior's wife.

He had expected the small sob that freed itself from her throat, her hands covering her mouth.

Pepper was rather grateful that she was standing close to a couch as her knees decided to turn into pudding.

* * *

Eír's fingers trembled with effort as she painstakingly slowly healed every laceration that was left behind as Dr. Yang and Dr. Hunt removed yet another shard. She had been able to reduce the scar tissue that was affecting the sinus node enough so they could detach and take out the one metal fragment that was responsible for pulling it away.

Unfortunately, she could not heal the bundle of nerves itself. While there was no shard to be removed, it had been damaged, most likely by a fragment that had been removed during the initial surgery. Dr. Yang had been speculating loudly that the adrenalin from the abduction and his injuries had kept the Lord Stark's heart rate elevated for long enough until magnet hat been fit in which had taken over not only keeping the fragments from moving, but also sent steady impulses to the nerve node and the adjacent fibers. Whoever this physicist in Afghanistan had been, he had done good work.

It was only a matter of minutes, and they had focused on the scar tissue and the metal piece close by, this time observing the expected effect of Stark's heart slowing down due to the lack of the pacemaker.

But this had been part of the plan, anyway. The tiny box that Dr. Yang connected to the heart restored a steady rhythm, and they could focus on removing the other fragments.

Whenever Cristina was busy with one of the pieces, steady hands removing them as slowly as possible, the Goddess of Healing let her magic roam through the mortal's body, healing whatever other ailments she could find. His liver and his stomach had suffered damage by the heavy metal poisoning that had been mentioned in his medical history.

There were torn muscle fibers and sprained bones and joints that most probably resulted from the battle of New York a few days ago. There was a tiny amount of mutated cells in his pancreas forming a mass that would become dangerous in a few years if untreated.

So whenever she was not needed to close the wounds left behind by the shrapnel, Eír continued healing whatever else she could find in Tony's body that might affect his health, once scaring Dr. Warren as she was working on a slight case of arteriosclerosis and having the Lord Stark's blood pressure drop a bit after she was done.

She was scolded like an undergraduate healer (and under her face mask also blushing like one) by Dr. Hunt when she stated that it had been her doing, and from then on announced on what she was working and what effects they might have to expect.

They removed all of the seventeen shards that still stuck in and around the Lord Stark's heart, a heavy sigh escaping from more than one person around the surgery table as the last wound closed under Eír's efforts.

Cristina straightened her back, some of her joints cracking as she did so.

"Ok. Part one accomplished, great work everyone. Does anybody need a break? Eír, do you need something? We have some time while Callie prepares the ribcage. J.A.R.V.I.S., why is Dr. Avery not here? We will need him to fix the skin around the opening for the reactor…?"

The doctor in question entered the OR just then, hearing the question and sighing while nurse Carol was helping him into his gear.

"We had a little emergency upstairs when you took out the reactor. You might want to take a look at Loki after we're done here, Miss Eír, he almost passed out and was unresponsive for a few minutes. April is still trying to talk him into an EEG and MRT, quite unsuccessfully, I have to add, but up to now I've never seen anyone withstand her nagging."

They could almost hear the smirk underneath the facemask. Owen just sent the younger man a look. Whenever Catherine Avery was not around, whenever Jackson was thinking for himself instead of letting her waltz over him, the trauma surgeon could see why his second in command had fallen for the plastic surgeon. The trauma with their first child had driven them apart, and yes, both of them had handled it wrong. April had launched herself into her doctors without borders adventure, fading out the drama she left at home. Jackson had sat at home, worrying for his wife, but never telling her what was going on in his head.

He hoped that baby Alexis was a wakeup call for both of them.

Eír also looked at the doctor with the darker skin and the stunning blue eyes.

"The removal of Lord Stark's reactor also might have affected Prince Loki. He is no trained healer, so he may have been overwhelmed. I shall tend to him once we are finished here…"

Callie chose this moment to get her bone saw ready, startling not only the Goddess of Healing while Owen moved the reactor further out of the way to give all of the people who would be needed to get the prosthetics for the ribcage in place.

"Okay, guys. Ready for part two?"

Cristina and the orthopedist had just changed places, Callie getting to work as enthusiastically as always, when a frantic call through J.A.R.V.I.S.'s speakers interrupted the noises of the saw.

"Whatever you are doing down there, you have to stop it immediately!"

* * *

There was something clamped to his forefinger. And he could hear a soft beeping from somewhere behind his bed. Loki groaned as he woke, his head thrumming with piercing pain right behind his eyes as he tried to open them, his joints aching as he tried to move.

He gave up on that instantly when the throbbing in his head was accompanied by nausea. When he finally managed to open his eyes and take a look around, he realized that this was not his bedroom. A faint light was illuminating the chamber; there were monitors and other medical equipment. So… he was in the infirmary.

The big question was _why_ was he here _?_

"Eír said I should scold you for monitoring the Lord Stark so closely", a silent voice said, having Loki slightly turn his head into the direction it was coming from.

Fandral was curled up in a rather comfortable looking wingback chair, a blanket wrapped around his large body, blinking tiredly as his gaze encountered the other man's.

"What… what happened…?" Loki whispered back, turning to his side into a more comfortable position, and these movements alone made him seasick. He was glad that the other God cared enough to keep his voice down, that the room was dark all around them. Fandral shifted on the chair, his legs pulling a footrest closer, tightening his blanket around himself as he leaned his head against his arm resting against the side of the backrest.

"You passed out. The Lady Eír had to leave the surgery room, because Dr. Kepner could not help you. Apparently, human pain medication does not work on you that well. The Lady April was afraid she would give you too high a dose."

Loki was still confused… yes, he had monitored Anthony's status, he was faintly feeling how the shards had been plucked out of his chest, he had witnessed how Eír had let her magic roam through the mortal's body, restoring more of his health than she had ever been asked for.

He did not understand what had happened then. So he just kept looking at Fandral.

"Dr. Hunt moved the reactor away from Lord Stark's body when they did not need it anymore to keep the shrapnel at bay, and you witnessed without any dampening how Dr. Torres cut into his sternum."

Loki hummed silently, squeezing his eyes shut as the vibrations from his own voice reverberated in his head.

"Eír cast a sleeping spell on you and took care that the reactor was kept close to Lord Stark for the rest of the procedure. She wants to talk to you in the morrow. How are you feeling?" the Swordsman continued, not changing his position.

"My head hurts… and I am thirsty… and queasy…", Loki answered, belatedly realizing that normally he would not have revealed something like this. He was still shocked by the sudden assault of awareness concerning Anthony's condition. How a man, a mortal, could survive this massive conglomeration of injuries and poisoning amazed him. He was even more surprised by the way of how his entire situation had been blocked out from both magic users in the tower by the reactor. Whatever Anthony had created there, it was powerful.

And potentially dangerous.

But what was not dangerous nowadays?

"She said that this would happen. Just try to sleep. I can get Eír if it hurts too badly, but she was quite exhausted from the surgery." Fandral rubbed his cheek against his arm, his hand still cradling his own head, obviously this position had been comfortable. With a sigh he sat up, then, and got up from the chair.

"I will fetch you some water. Dr. Hunt is still awake, monitoring the Lord Stark, maybe he can give you something against the nausea, humans obviously invented pills against everything…"

Loki hummed again and immediately regretted it as his head continued throbbing. He had been present when the Lady Darcy had talked Fandral into trying one of her tiny cakes and her speech about so-called Lactase-pills that you could get in any pharmacy (whatever that was) that might help him eat also regular stuff containing dairy. Fandral was already halfway through the door, when Loki addressed him again.

"The surgery is over? How is Anthony?"

The other man simply smiled. Obviously, Loki was not the only one who was relieved.

"He is sleeping as well, but according to Eír and the human doctors he is as good as new. The Lady Pepper has joined him in the infirmary and is spending the night there. The Lady Darcy is resting on a chair in the same chamber. Clint and Mr. Holmes tried camping out on the floor but were shooed out by the Lady April. You have been out for more than half of the day."

The Blonde now was yawning loudly, before pushing down the door handle, leaving Loki alone with his thoughts.

In the past few days, Anthony's situation, his own worries for the human he had started to consider a friend, his worries for the Lady Pepper and her unborn child had overshadowed everything that might be awaiting him.

But now, that the surgery had been a success, the knowledge that he would have to go back to the Realm Eternal soon, even if it was together with Stark, was weighing him down again.

Normally, he would have spent his time making plans, working out ways to withstand the confrontations that for sure would come. In Asgard's eyes, Anthony was nothing but an unimportant child, they would not care much about his testimonial, about his evidence. At least Eír could prove that the element in Anthony's chest made him immune to Loki's tricks.

Nobody would believe Agent Barton should he decide to act as a witness. They would simply claim that Loki was still controlling him.

Most of the people would not believe him simply because it was him.

Sif would do everything to turn everybody willing to listen to her against him. Volstagg would be one of the first to be turned.

Heimdall had always hated him.

People at the court hated him.

He would have to be _very_ careful when returning to the Realm Eternal. Thor and Frigga most probably would deflect a lot of insults and attempts to attack him, but they could not always be around.

If he stayed too close to Anthony, he might put him in danger, too…

This was not good… he had to prepare himself, he had to make plans, he had to figure out how…

A strong hand pushed him down into his pillow when he had not even really started to get up, making him open his eyes, only to stare into Fandral's worried face.

"And if I have to climb into bed with you again, you will stay here for the rest of the night."

This time, the blonde God did not hush his voice, causing Loki to wince at the pain in his head again. The next time he managed to open his eyes, Fandral had squatted down next to the bed, holding the glass with water in his hand.

"I apologize, I should not have been this loud. But you looked like you were about to escape. Whatever ails you, it can wait until the morrow…"

Those eyes, those green, green eyes were looking at him, and while Fandral could not make out much in the dim light in the room, dark enough to sleep, but bright enough to not fall over the furniture in unknown surroundings, he was sure that they once more were brimming with tears.

It made him put the pill Dr. Hunt had given to him (with a comment about how this thing could knock an elephant out, whatever that was, so it should work on Loki) onto the nightstand before his fingers found their way to Loki's head, softly carding through the long, black tresses.

"I will be here, Loki. In this tower, there are friends, people who can help, people who care… you are safe here."

The dark haired God sighed.

"You should leave", he whispered then, closing his eyes so he did not have to look at the other.

"I'm not going anywhere. I let you push me away already once, and see where this ended. I can be stubborn, too, you know, that is not only your and Thor's prerogative."

Loki opened his eyes again, only small slits, wide enough to see the Swordsman.

"You should stay away. As far as you can. Everybody who ever associated themselves with me, every person I dared to take to my heart has been hurt or is dead."

Fandral had to get closer to understand him, his head ending up on the mattress, his forehead touching Loki's. His fingers came away with wetness as he moved his hand from the soft hair to touch the other God's cheek, caressing it.

"Don't risk your life. Not for me", Loki whispered, confused by the outcome of this weird conversation. Back then he had used the Swordsman for distraction… it might have turned into something else, but whatever it was, it had been nipped in the bud.

What did Fandral want from him? Why… did he insist to stay close? Why was he comforting him? The Blonde could have everyone, why his interest in the dark God of Chaos and Lies? What was the reason behind this? What would be the price for having his friendship?

Could he afford it?

Fandral just hushed him, his nose brushing Loki's, his hand still cradling his face.

"Let me be the judge of that, will you? And now, please stop thinking so hard, it will leave permanent lines in your pretty face. Dr. Hunt gave me some medication that should help the nausea. I will stay in this chair, so if you need anything, just let me know…"

Very deep inside, Loki mourned the loss of contact as Fandral moved away, reaching for the pill again, helping Loki to drink something along with it. He indeed marched back to the wingback chair, settling into it again, trying to find that comfortable position he had been in before.

"What do you want from me, Fandral?" He had not much left to give. He was not even sure if he wanted to. The past very painfully had shown him that things turned out in the worst way they could.

The Blonde shifted in his chair, pulling the blanket up to his ears.

"Anything you are willing to give. And now sleep."

Hah.

Sleep.

As if sleep would come easily after a day like this.


	22. You expect the wise man to be wiser

_**Chapter 22: You expect the wise man to be wiser**_

 _It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. (Aristotle)_

* * *

Queen Frigga was observing her son as he pushed around his food on his plate, having eaten only a few bites while brooding. Already their dinner the day before had been quiet, Thor had simply shown her some books he had purchased (and she had tried very hard to not look as surprised as she was over that), as well as some baking forms and ingredients. Chocolate indeed was a valued treat to be introduced to Asgard, and the chef who had eventually appeared was thrilled to bits by the new challenge to create these tiny cakes called muffins.

He had not lost a word about his friends and how he had thrown them out of his chambers. What he did was order both Aron and Lejs that they were to inform the guards should something like this happen again when Thor was off-world.

She had never seen him like this before. Thor was not quiet. He was loud, he was happy, he was vibrant and… and always hungry. Sometimes, his appetite still reminded her of his time as an adolescent, with limbs too long for his body, with too much power in those muscles, the bottomless pit he called a stomach never really filled back then.

Loki had been even worse. He had been a wispy child, diminutive and small, smaller than most children of his age, with arms and legs as thin as sticks. When puberty hit, her baby boy grew to his recent height in under three years and had started showing his talents as a very gifted mage, inhaling everything that resembled food, managing to even out-eat Thor more than once. As soon as Loki had filled out his armor, muscles finally shaping his body into that of a, still sinewy and lanky, warrior, his appetite normalized.

When Thor pushed away his plate, it was still more than half full, and Frigga used her napkin to dab the corners of her mouth before signaling the servants that they were done with their meal and they could clear the table. They did so with confused glances towards their King.

The chef had sent up some treats fabricated out of the chocolate Thor had brought the day before, praising the sweet concoction, and the possibilities it gave him to create. He was asking for more books, for more recipes, for… more.

Thor simply remembered Darcy's words before she had sunk her teeth into her cupcake and eaten it in silence.

" _Chocolate doesn't ask questions. Chocolate understands."_

 _He_ did not really _understand_ what she wanted to say with that, after all, chocolate was not a sentient being. He nevertheless put one of the tiny balls the chef had created (yep, the cookbook also had a pralines section) into his mouth and started chewing.

It was sweet, but he had expected nothing else. When he bit down on the globe, something liquid, tasting of alcohol poured out, making him hum in surprise. The next one he savored more slowly, licking off the chocolate shell before being amazed by yet another flavor on the inside.

By the time he had put his third praline into his mouth, Frigga had left her chair at the other end of the table and sat down right next to her son.

"You are awfully quiet today, my Dear", she said, having him lift his head, directing ocean blue eyes at her.

"I have been talking the entire day, Mother. It is a tiring feat weeding out the self-interested, smarmy bootlickers Odin has gathered around himself, blocking any progress that I might initiate by talking in circles and reaching no conclusion. How is it so hard to find noblemen with an opinion that serves more than their own merit? They are exploiting their sinecure until the peasants have hardly enough to live, while whining at the crown that the taxes are too high. Restoring the Bifrost appears to be of minor interest, though."

He looked so helpless when he held her gaze. "How could he let Asgard's court deteriorate to this? To a bunch of self-serving lickspittles, drunk on their power, regardless of their people? Has he been encouraging them, or did he simply not care? When was the last time Odin did something for the entirety of Asgard, and not just his merry Round Table that approved of everything he said?"

The blonde Goddess did not know what to answer to these inquiries. Odin's decisions had been more than questionable at times, but in the end, it was his right as the King to refuse being challenged about his decisions.

"When was the last time that he told his people the truth? When was the last time he did not wriggle out of a contract he closed? When was the last time he did not steal, lie, and betray? He claims these to be Loki's features while he is the one obscuring his own history. He is the one hiding his own Mother. He is the one claiming to have traded his eye for the ability to see the future while in truth he lost it in the war. He is turning the entirety of Asgard against the other realms, declaring them monsters, denouncing magic-users, claiming their ephemerality makes Midg… humans insignificant. How is this the ruler over the nine realms? How is this man the All-father?"

Frigga knew that there was so much more Thor wanted to address. So many things he had learned with the Odinforce coming to him. Hliðskjálf was one of the few things that Asgard had obtained through keeping a contract, however, instead of gaining an eyeball as the myths described, Mimir, the creator of the Throne, had been recompensed adequately already by Buri, Odin's Grandfather. Thor was the fourth in the line of Asgard's Kings who was experiencing its full capabilities.

She wanted to answer: "But he is the All-father no more." Thor, however, interrupted her before she could open her mouth to answer.

"How could he bear it, Mother? Tell me! Jotunheim is dying and he was willing to simply let it happen. Midgard is targeted by the Mad Titan and Odin did not move a finger. His orders were to bring Loki back and not involve myself in the demise of these lowly creatures on Midgard. He stole Laufey's son, claiming to use him as a token to broker peace, while the Jotnar believed him dead and were moribund already due to the loss of the casket. He told me my brother was dead, he did not even look for him, and I know he had the resources. I can see the Chitauri, or what is left of them, what the Man of Iron did not extinguish with the _nuke_ the mortals have developed. Tell me! Tell me there is a reason behind this, because the Norns know I have found none!"

Thor had gotten louder, more agitated with every sentence, with every question that was running through his head, making Frigga freeze in her chair, while the servants retreated from the dining chamber.

The actions of the Lady Pepper on Earth had shown him that he could not act with benignity right now. Decisions had to be made that would not be popular, but necessary. Things could not continue like this lest he wanted Asgard to face her inevitable demise. Unfortunately, he could not rely on a squadron of loyal solicitors to tear into the foul side of Asgard's court. Another thing he had to put onto his to-do list. Find someone like Emerson Bonner and sic him or her onto all the antediluvians that occupied the golden halls.

Frigga reached out, softly caressing her son's bearded cheek before catching one of his hands. She had no answers for him. She was coming up with more questions by herself the more she thought about the past centuries of Odin's reign.

"I know not, my Dear. But rest assured, I will stand by your side, no matter how you may use my advice, and if I may simply serve as a means to vent. How many of those lickspittles have you thrown out of Valaskjálf?"

Thor sighed, reaching out for another of the chocolate balls, thoughtfully chewing on it.

"Not enough, I am afraid. Odin has left such a mess, I do not even know where to start cleaning up. I feel rather unprepared for such a feat, Mother. I wish Loki was here… he would know…"

Interrupting himself, Thor stared at his free hand, his fingers that were playing with another praline before shoving it into his mouth.

"Friend Tony's surgery was successful. I will visit them tomorrow afternoon to make further plans for Loki coming back to Asgard. Measures have been taken already during my last visit to Midgard with the President of the United States, and more countries are to follow. I have made Loki Asgard's ambassador on Midgard officially, with Fandral as his constant security detail. Volstagg, Hogun, and Sif are not part of the committee that will assess the threat by Thanos. I have also changed the guard rotation, and I will have Heimdall on a very tight leash, maybe I will have to find a replacement for him should he continue his open aversions against my brother."

This got him a gasp from his mother, after all, Heimdall had been at his post since the Bifrost had been created.

"There will be Migardians… humans… visiting Asgard and I made it very clear that I want everyone on their best behavior. The friend Clinton has volunteered to act as a witness for Loki's innocence. The Man of Iron can further provide evidence for the mind control. I also want him to look at the plans of the Bifrost, as our engineers still cannot make any rhyme on them. Maybe I can convince the Lady Pepper, Dr. Banner, and the Lady Darcy to come along…"

At Frigga's questioning frown, Thor chose to explain a bit more in detail why he had come up with this idea.

"Friend Tony and the Lady Pepper got married only a few days ago. And with all the trouble we have caused, with him getting severely hurt on Loki's behalf, I feel we should recompense them. The Lady Pepper has expressed the wish for a Honeymoon far away from human technology and prying eyes, or anything that might hinder her from being with her beloved. I suppose Asgard could provide this environment."

He did not say that he wanted to show the strawberry blonde mortal that Asgard consisted not only of brainless idiots that blindly followed their leader, making no difference between friend or foe upon a given order.

Frigga cocked her head to one side when she inquired his reasons for bringing the man he had called Dr. Banner, and the Lady Darcy.

Her eyes narrowed at his explanations, especially when he slightly blushed upon mentioning the human female again. His friend, the Man of Iron, would not be willing to leave the physicist behind. No matter what Dr. Banner might have to say.

The Lady Darcy…

She had studied the politics of Midgard, and Thor hoped for some advice from an outsider. Moreover, he had promised to show her how to ride a horse.

Frigga had to bite her own lip to keep from teasing him when he hid from further explanations by stuffing some more of the chocolate treats into his mouth.

"You had a very busy day, I see", was what she said instead.

Odin would have meddled instantly with his son's interest in a mortal. He already did. Odin's lack of pressure in regards of repairing the Bifrost was not only caused by the inability of their engineers. The _mortal goat_ was a sore topic, something he was willing to outwait, fifty or sixty years were nothing, by then she would have perished and Thor would have found another object of interest.

Frigga did not know how the young friend of her son's initial chosen one had gained his interest, but she vowed to herself to give her son free reign over his life for once. There had been enough interference, when it came to Odin, Thor should have married Sif already a long time ago, and would be breeding tiny, obedient Asgardians by now. That Sif's personality would make her anything but a good mother did not matter at all.

"I shall have Fulla prepare your guest quarters. Also Loki and Fandral will stay at your wing of the palace. Should we prepare a program for our visitors? Some sightseeing? Fensalir for the newly-weds? Your friend Tony might be interested in visiting Iðawǫllr…"

Thor actually smiled as his mother started making plans for their visitors while he annihilated the rest of the chocolate. Coming to think of it, it was the first time since he had arrived back from Midgard that he thought something to be funny, taking his mind, if only briefly, from all the dreaded but necessary changes he was inflicting, making not only friends among Asgard's noblemen.

He did not care. These changes were overdue, they would have to learn to cope.

But if they could make something more than a tiresome diplomatic strategy meeting out of this visit, he would be the first raising his hand to participate.

He actually made a mental note to free some hours to fulfill his promise of showing the person who had introduced him to this addictive concoction called chocolate how to ride a horse.

* * *

Darcy blinked tiredly as she watched Pepper caress Tony's hair. She did not really know why she tagged along like a lost puppy, running after the first person showing just a hint of affection. Heck, she did not even know why nobody made a fuss that she claimed the chair in Tony Stark's hospital room, wrapped a blanket around herself and watched the elfin person that was her maybe-brother's wife climb on the bed, drape herself around the sleeping man and then do just this – caress the man's hair.

Maybe it was just that. The tiny, rather intimidating chance that she was related to said genius, that her mother had not lied all these years, that she might not be alone anymore and had the slight hope that this couple even liked her a tiny bit. Maybe this was what made her stick to them like chewing gum to the sole of a shoe.

She never knew that the feeling of wanting to belong somewhere, to have a family, was still there.

She'd thought it had died a long time ago. Sure, Jane sometimes treated her more like a family member than an employee. At other times she let her feel very directly who was the intern, though, and in the past months, when her pay-checks started to become irregular, and Jane actually mentioned that she was paying for everything else like living quarters, food, and what else came with travelling around the world when she dared asking, Darcy had reacted in the only way she knew – withdraw and think about alternatives.

She did not approach the topic of money again, but started thinking about asking for a grade and a final report, and moving on with her life and her real studies. She would end up writing the report, and be giving herself an A, anyway, because Jane couldn't be bothered with stuff like that, but that was just playing in her favor.

Wrapping her blanket a little tighter around herself, she found her gaze straying to the bed again, this time being caught by Pepper who never stopped running her fingers over Tony's scalp.

"I didn't thank you yet for feeding the masses in the Penthouse. It was really a big help in keeping them occupied and not worrying too much, so… thank you", the strawberry-blonde said softly, sending her a smile.

"I'm a stress-baker, so you're lucky there were so many people there, otherwise you'd be swamped with cupcakes", Darcy answered in a shy tone. Pepper intimidated her. That woman was everything she wasn't. Sophisticated, elegant, well-mannered, eloquent, and absolutely badass, at least when she considered what she had heard about the dismantling of S.H.I.E.L.D..

"Well… neither Tony nor J.A.R.V.I.S. let me anywhere near the kitchen. I couldn't cook to safe my life, and believe me, I have tried… Tony, though… He always says there isn't an ounce of a chemist in him, because that would mean Howard's genes at least left some trace. But he sure knows how to follow a recipe." And she actually liked it when he was cooking for her. The kitchen was a mess afterwards, and J.A.R.V.I.S. was complaining about how Tony managed to get things dirty that did not have any relation with kitchen utensils – but it was his controlled chaos, and it happened rarely enough that she savored it each and every time.

While Pepper sighed audibly in her self-inflicted nostalgia, Darcy laughed. "Sheesh, I'm no chemist, either. I never stick to a recipe. I once thought about opening a cupcake shop with a friend, but that would've meant that my cupcakes would've had to taste the same for every batch or people would get annoyed by my experiments – that's not how I work, I need a little chaos…"

Pepper just smiled softly, making Darcy blush and shyly wrap herself into her blanket even more when she stated: "I can see the two of you getting along really well."

She returned her attention back to her sleeping husband after that tiny conversation. She never would've thought that she voluntarily would spend this much time in a hospital bed – especially when it was not her who was hospitalized.

The things she was doing for this man…

She had propped up her head on one hand, lying on her side, watching her genius sleep, from time to time still glancing over to the chair in the corner where Darcy had finally given in to sleep after a few more minutes. She wanted to ask J.A.R.V.I.S. if the test was already done, even though it would most probably just be a confirmation of the obvious. She would have to reign in Tony once he figured out that he had a baby sister, or he would overwhelm the girl with his way of showing his affection, which meant he would either shower her with gifts, or set up a ridiculously big trust fund… or both of them would enter a snark-contest of epic proportions that neither could win – well, this actually might be fun.

She let her finger's rake through Tony's hair, thinking about all those times she had spent awake, right next to him, watching him sleep.

He'd most probably find it creepy, knowing that she was doing this. It was during those first weeks of what they did not even dare calling a relationship yet, when she had developed this habit. They had not jumped into bed immediately, after all, Tony was still recovering, and she did not put out on the first date. They did not dawdle, either, though, after all, somehow they'd been dancing around the issue for two years already. It was back then when she learned how close she had come to losing him, that she would watch him, thinking she was crazy, especially after all of those times she had wanted to strangle him in all those years she had been working for him.

She knew that Tony did not need much sleep – already before Afghanistan he'd done well with four or five hours per night. When he made her the CEO of Stark Industries she thought he finally realized that he needed help, rest, a vacation… back then, she did not know the entire story and the mass of problems he had to cope with, though.

The insomnia in the first few months after Afghanistan only partially stemmed from the nightmares and the posttraumatic stress. He had to sleep in a position he was not used to, so he worked until he keeled over and did not care how he slept.

The heavy metal poisoning just added to these problems. He had blamed the insomnia for the fatigue and digestive problems in the beginning, only having J.A.R.V.I.S. do some research when he started losing weight (and hair – Oh God, he'd been so terrified of going bald, even after he had the new element in the reactor) and his tongue was feeling like it was on fire. And he had told no-one, not wanting to be a burden, thinking they didn't care…

She remembered her frantic tries to reach him when Rhodey informed them about the explosion in Afghanistan, about the dead soldiers around the "Fun-Vee". She remembered J.A.R.V.I.S. going berserk on some Air Force and Army servers when she did not get the information they wanted with polite phone calls. When had her feelings changed? Was it really after he came back and did a 180 on his life? Was it before and she just denied it?

She remembered Obadiah's stoic mien when she did not give up looking for Tony instantly. She never told him about J.A.R.V.I.S.'s efforts to find his creator, and, in retrospect, she should have acted on her first instinct when he offered her the position as her PA with all the benefits he assumed Tony was getting.

She should have gutted him right there when he was oh so the opposite of helpful trying to find her boss.

It would have spared them so much trouble, and she had been wearing some regular leather pumps that day without any sentimental value, so she wouldn't have minded a little blood and gore.

But no, she had to ruin her satin Louboutins, one of Tony's first "I fucked up, please forgive me, Miss Potts" presents, when the reactor blew up, her adrenalin was still spiking weeks after that incident.

She got slightly paranoid about where Tony was and what he was doing (with J.A.R.V.I.S. happily conspiring in monitoring their genius) after that, and she did not even get to kiss him. And by the time he gave that accursed press conference announcing to the world that he was the frickin' guy in the tin can, she had convinced herself that being Tony Stark's girlfriend was a bad idea no matter how much she had wanted this kiss on that stupid balcony.

She had been thinking a lot about what might have been different had she reacted differently to his advances.

He wouldn't have had to suffer through the palladium poisoning alone.

Miss Romanov wouldn't have made it into a ten foot radius without getting her eyes scratched out.

Tony most probably would still be CEO and be miserable about it. He was way happier as the head of R&D.

 _She_ was way happier the way it was now. If things had taken a different turn, would she still be the PA? A celebrity wife, posting every yogurt she ate because her life was this dull?

She hoped that many things would change now that the threat of the shrapnel was gone and the reactor was housed differently in his chest.

Because it was not only Tony who wasn't sleeping well…

He was snoring ever so softly every time they spent the night together. He, who had always been sleeping on his belly or his side, was more or less forced to sleep on his back since the reactor had made any other position rather uncomfortable.

Sadly, though, this was something that was driving Pepper up the walls. Most of her adult life she had had her bedroom to herself, even more so after more or less unofficially moving in with her boss without him even realizing it four years into her job. It just did not feel right bringing anyone to Tony's house. Not that she had any time for dating, anyway.

Her bedroom was dark. It was quiet. Her alarm clock was the only illuminated thing in there, and she was not even used to someone breathing next to her. And it actually was just that – someone breathing a little louder than regular, because Tony was still self-conscious about the reactor and the scars around it, and was wearing shirts in bed, so the light of the reactor was not really an issue.

She could not sleep right next to him and it was driving her crazy, because she wanted to be close, wanted to be held or hold him. She _wanted_ to share his bed. She just could not fall asleep with all the _noise_ , and people who said that they didn't think that the noise of a snoring person, no matter how soft it was, was annoying were lying liars.

Tony had suspected that she regretted their relationship after she left his bedroom more than once in the middle of the night. And then he had tortured himself by trying to find another position that would not feel like the reactor was pushed even deeper inside his chest after he found out her reasons for leaving him to get some much deserved rest.

They had talked about it, and yes, Tony Stark could have an adult conversation, there were just very few people he let in on this secret, and then they tried to find a solution that did not result in sleeping in different rooms.

In the end, they figured out that he just had to slightly turn to the side, or prop his head up a little, and spooning was a position that gave him enough support that he could still breathe while lying on his side. Still, Pepper spent a lot of time awake, right next to him, though no longer because it was too loud.

Since the projects _Stark Tower_ and _Clean Energy for Everyone_ had taken off they did not see each other a lot, hence also her exception to her "no sex in the office" rule after missing each other for six long weeks that led to the creation of their cell-heap… Junior… their baby.

And here she was, once more watching him sleep, fingers combing through this thick, unruly hair, for the first time wishing he would open his eyes, instead of trying to not disturb him.

Snuggling closer she rested her head against his shoulder, one hand sneaking under the hem of his shirt, flattening on his stomach

"C'mon, Honey, wake up. Things have gone crazy in the tower… I need someone to mock everything, I'm getting way too serious… We had to hospitalize Loki, Fandral refuses to leave his side, and Bruce is hiding away somewhere… they're all so worried, and I need you to tell us that you're fine…"

Tony did not grant her wish immediately, and when he finally did, she also had succumbed to sleep. He opened his eyes for the first time a few hours later, astonished how exhausting it could be to simply move his eyelids. The weight on his shoulder and the hand resting on his stomach must have been Peps', because for nobody else it made sense to be this close and in his bed.

It was even harder to focus on something in the room, and that it was almost completely dark didn't make it easier. At some point he managed to make out the faint red glow of the light that marked J.A.R.V.I.S.'s active camera, the one of the countless eyes in the room that was watching him, without even moving his head.

He had to clear his throat before he was able to even make the slightest sound, and also the tiny sound he made took a lot of effort.

"Hey… J…"

It was the first time the artificial intelligence wished he had a body, any possibility to touch his creator would be relished in the moment. This notion, this yet unknown urge for a corporeal presence was something he would analyze later, though. For the moment, he was too relieved that the man had woken.

" _Welcome back, Sir",_ was what he whispered, the words feeling slightly inadequate, just like his reaction to baby boy Stark a few days ago. _Yay. YAY?_ He was the most evolved computer program on this planet, his computing power equaling that of the human brain. In some ways, he was even more evolved, he did not need to direct valuable resources into keeping up bodily functions – he could be almost everywhere at the same time thanks to the internet, and his connection to the arc reactor was not the only power source he could rely on… and still, in moments like these, he did not know what to say, and wished to be able to embrace his father.

The man in the bed smiled, closing his eyes again. He wanted to say that it was good to be back, but only managed to hum a "hmmm…", before falling asleep again.

J.A.R.V.I.S. kept his camera trained on the bed, monitoring not only his creator's life signs, but also Mrs. Stark's and his baby brother's, relishing a few moments of peace with his family before the next drama happened within the tower.

* * *

J.A.R.V.I.S. was talking to him. That was the first thing Bruce recognized over the sound of warm water falling into the shower basin.

That he lay there curled up in a fetal position was the next thing he registered, and it actually took some effort to move his head away from the spray and to start one of the breathing exercises that he had learned to keep his other side at bay.

" … _you hear me? Please continue breathing steadily. Help is on the way."_

By the time the door to his bathroom was pushed open, Bruce had at least an idea what might have triggered the panic attack – the last few days had been very stressful, he liked Tony and all the other people that made up their crazy little flatshare family. Tony was hurt, had to undergo surgery, and while everybody did their best to look confident, all of them knew that this could also end badly.

Now also Loki had collapsed, and General Ross didn't really seem to care about the restraining order that said he had to stay away from him and kept milling around at the base of Stark Tower.

Considering the height of the tower, he most probably was even keeping the distance he was supposed to keep. In the past few days he was so worried about Tony, Pepper, and in the end, also their Trickster God (he should stop with naming Loki like that immediately – it was bad enough that Tony was doing it all the time), that he had no time to think about himself.

This late afternoon when J.A.R.V.I.S. had declared that the surgery was over and that _Sir_ was fine and put to sleep to fully recover had left all of them extremely relieved. Bruce had still been spending some time with Jane Foster, dissecting the flight data of MARK VII while the astrophysicist was mapping unknown star constellations that the suit had recorded.

She was mumbling to herself most of the time, talking to a non-present Darcy to take notes. J.A.R.V.I.S. had opened a holographic screen right next to her, listing her mumbling and saving said notes for the intern who was worrying over her maybe-brother and feeding the masses in the Penthouse he had returned to, eventually.

All of a sudden, though, he was alone. Fandral was glued to Loki's side anyway and had left when his friend was taken to the infirmary. Clint and Gabriel had actually wanted to wait until Stark was up and running again, trying to sneak into his room and also spend the night there, before leaving for London. Pepper, however, pointed out that Tony wanted leave for Asgard as soon as possible, and would really appreciate it if Clint would tell his side of the story.

The archer had nodded, and grabbed the young inventor while J.A.R.V.I.S. organized for Tony's driver to take them to the airport where the Stark Industries company jet would wait for them.

Pepper and Darcy had stayed in Tony's room.

And Bruce had time to think about his last encounters with Thaddeus Ross, ending up with another panic attack under his shower, once more featuring the guns on that helicopter that had been aiming at the Hulk during that fight at the Culver University…

Somebody crouched down right next to him, two fingers routinely checking his pulse before he was turned over, strong hands holding him in place as he struggled to get up and away. Panic was rising again, this time, though, more because he feared that _the other guy_ might come out to protect him from whatever was just happening.

He forced himself to look into the ocean-blue eyes that were directed at him, red hair framing fair skin that without protection would have turned red immediately under the sun of all the places he had hidden out from Ross, from himself, from the world.

He knew that man. There was no threat. No reason to smash anything…

When the medical doctor moved his hands to the side of his skull, pushing away brunet hair that had gotten longer again since his last intermezzo with mankind, Bruce realized that his head actually hurt.

Owen's fingers came away with blood that was washed away immediately by the shower.

Bruce was trying to move away, shaking his head, and regretting it immediately, wincing as his head started throbbing, so he croaked out an additional "No… you should not touch my… blood. It's toxic…"

Owen simply drawled out an "Easy, there", helping Bruce to sit up with a few routine movements before switching off the shower and grabbing a towel to give the other man the chance to cover himself. The flashlight Loki had learned to hate appeared, checking the reactions of his pupils, before the trauma surgeon hummed contentedly, packing it away again.

"You've got a nasty laceration there. Might need some stitches. Do you feel dizzy? Nauseous?"

" _I cannot find anything that would point to a concussion, Dr. Hunt. Dr. Banner appeared to be taking cover all of a sudden, hitting his head as he lowered himself to the floor of the shower basin. There are significantly elevated levels of gamma radiation, though, comparable to_ _111_ _Indium used in scintigraphy. I suggest wearing gloves and a lead gown, as well as histoacrylic glue when taking care of the wound. The rest of his body seems to be insulating the radiation."_

J.A.R.V.I.S. made sure that the water containing Dr. Banner's blood would be collected separately and be treated as radioactive waste, glad that he had talked his creator into also giving him the reign over this part of the house. Tony did not really understand why J.A.R.V.I.S. wanted to control the grey- and black water, but had inserted electronically controllable valves, anyway.

The artificial intelligence had also fired up his scanners by now, taking an even closer look at the physicist. Making a note that they still needed to work on the detection range, going to base pair resolution definitely would be necessary here, he investigated Dr. Banner's blood since they never got around to drawing any the day _Sir_ had decided that he wanted to cure the Hulk.

Basic research on gamma radiation had shown that it mostly harmed blood cells, but also caused mutations in other tissue, leading to tumors and uncontrollable cell-division.

Bruce's entire body had been exposed to such a high dose of the radiation in the experiment that was supposed to recreate Abraham Erskine's serum that it very likely affected every single cell.

 _Sir_ had him do superficial scans first, analyzing Dr. Banner's anatomy – they had not yet reached the subcellular level when Mrs. Stark's relatives had reappeared and the inhabitants of the Penthouse enjoyed another movie session.

Now, J.A.R.V.I.S. had to realize that there would be no cure for the physicist.

He could make out 25 chromosomes in the haploid chromosome set, the two additional ones very likely generated through the destruction of the regular chromosomes which had been restored by the serum's ability to heal the body. Something had gone wrong, having the man end up with two chromosomes more than the regular human, alterations of so called junk-DNA between the necessary genes most probably leading to the ability to turn into the Hulk.

Losing the two additional chromosomes again most probably would be fatal. And somehow, J.A.R.V.I.S. believed that this was something that the physicist already knew, thus being this pessimistic about finding a cure.

Owen in the meantime shrugged, reaching out to grab the smaller man under his arms and helped him to get up and out of the shower.

"We still need to stitch you up, it's still bleeding." Turning to the toilet, the redhead made the other man sit down on the lid before he ripped off some of the paper, folding it to a packet before handing it to Bruce, gesturing for him to press it onto the laceration.

"Here. We can get rid of that appropriately in the sick bay. I'll get you some clothes, and then we can go down there."

Bruce was still dazed enough to simply nod, regretting it again as his head protested, and letting the surgeon help him into his clothes, following him like a puppy to the elevator. Actually, Owen was more steering him there than he was walking on his own in a pre-determined direction.

He finally jerked out of his daze as the needle pierced his skin for the first time, the lidocaine that Owen had used to numb it obviously not working as fast on him as it was working on a regular person.

"Ow!"

"Welcome back to the living, Dr. Banner", a soft voice said, betraying the benevolent intent of the speaker with another sting, most probably Owen, adding another dose of the local analgesic.

He could see a shaving machine on a metal table right next to them. And some of his hair. How had he not noticed that the other man had shaved part of his head?!

The next time Owen pierced his skin with the needle he only felt some pressure, heard how the surgeon used the surgical clamps while he sewed the laceration. Bruce just sat there, heard Owen talk him through the procedure, how he applied the glue, efficiently closing the wound and keeping the radiation inside.

He only realized that the other man had asked him a question when Owen moved in front of him, crouching down to be at his eye-level.

"Dr. Banner?"

It made him blink three times in confusion, he was awake, he was aware of what was going on around him, still, apparently, he had missed something considering the worried look the other man was sending him.

"Maybe we should do some more tests, even though J.A.R.V.I.S. said it really was just the laceration."

Bruce shook his head, he really did not feel like being shoved into an MRT machine, or being poked at any more. He regretted the movement immediately, rolling his eyes about himself. He knew by now that his head hurt, so…

"I… what was the question?" he asked as the doctor pulled a chair close to be able to sit in front of him instead of crouching down. It had been a long day, actually, all Owen wanted to do by now was sleep. But, when duty called, you had to respond, no matter how crazy the day had been.

"I asked whether you wanted me to bandage the wound. It's closed and apparently healing already. But I thought you might feel better with a band aid over it. And I'd like to keep you in my little sick bay overnight."

"You like having your problem kids as close as possible, huh?" The physicist actually tried smiling, feeling too weary to really make an effort, though. How had this become his life? He used to be a world renowned scientist. Now, he was on the run almost constantly, and in the few moments he got to himself, the Hulk, his other self still haunted him.

The big guy knew that machine guns, rockets, whatever was thrown at him could not harm him. Why did he torment Bruce with images like these? He had spent so much time with Betty in the Hulk form. Why could he not remember those moments?

Owen did not answer immediately, just watched the other man who was playing with his fingers, eyes trained to the floor. Bruce Banner was not somebody to stand out. He was about Tony's height, just slimmer in his built, brown eyes, brown hair, dressing not to stand out. If he had not seen him naked half an hour ago, he would have expected the body of a man who did not have to work out to keep his weight, but also did not put any effort into, well, working out. Soft, a little belly maybe that was hidden by his clothes…

Bruce was all muscle, though. Sinewy, defined, as if he had control over every part of his body, all of the time… until he lost control to something bigger.

He saw a man on the run, not only from General Ross, but from himself and the things that had happened to him. He knew how Ross went after the Hulk, the pictures had made it to the news no matter how much the military tried to keep them under their wrap.

Thunderbolt Ross was hunting a civilian with the heaviest artillery he could get his hands on. And while the Hulk could withstand the impact physically, the mental aspect was something different.

"For how long are you having panic attacks like these, Bruce?" he asked softly, folding his hands in his lap as the other man's eyes shot up, staring at him, as if he never really had considered taking cover in his shower a panic attack. When he did not answer, Owen simply continued.

"I don't say that you are crazy, or in need of a shrink. But I don't think that this happened the first time. And I guess it also won't have been the last time. I for sure don't know how it is to lose control like I guess it must feel when you turn into the Hulk, because I don't think it's willingly all the time – but… I think you should try to do something against it before you wake up because your girlfriend's flat mate it hitting you with something because you're trying to strangle her in your sleep."

Bruce mirrored Owen's gesture by now, sitting there, his hands folded in his lap, briefly wondering how he had no real memory of putting on some sweatpants and a t-shirt before coming down to the infirmary.

"The thing in the shower… happened before… when I was on the run the last time. I… I still was trying to _cure_ the Hulk, a guy at Culver was trying to help me… Ross somehow got wind of it, blew up most of their lawn, almost killed his own daughter, and I woke up in a cave with Betty right next to me. I normally don't remember what the… the other guy did when he's on a rampage… but when we were in this hotel room, when I was showering, I… I saw this helicopter, and how he was firing at me… how Betty was still there… and I had to get her out of there…"

And not only Betty had been there. There had been students, people walking their dogs, children… and Ross just marched in there with two tanks, a helicopter and the obviously God-given right to hunt down Robert Bruce Banner.

"Somehow it's always copters that trigger stuff like that", the redhead muttered, getting a curious look from the man sitting on the other chair.

"Cristina had to take off the ceiling fan because it was one of my triggers. Certified PTSD, here, went to psychotherapy and whatnot. 's not easy to overcome the _come on, I'm not crazy, I don't need no shrink_ feelings, but once I admitted to myself that I was endangering not only myself, but also the people around me, it was easier to swallow my pride and get some help."

Bruce sighed at that. You could not simply psychoanalyze away the Hulk. The restraining order had been approved, it should keep Ross at bay, right?

"How long do you think he will give a rat's ass about some paper signed by a civilian judge when he is hunting military property? That's what he calls you, Bruce, you know that. I think it's time to strike back. Stop running. Defend yourself. Bruce. Not the Hulk. This person is torturing you. He is terrorizing you. He's making you sick. Ross may say that he does not care about public opinion. But he's running for a political post, wants to be secretary of the state once, I quote, _this sissy Ellis won't make his second turn._ What do you think he will do when he finally got this post, all this power?"

This was something the physicist did not even want to think about. While the Hulk seemed to be Ross' favorite little project, he never denied being on the side of the people who wanted to lock away every person with special abilities. The _mutant problem_ was something many politicians had on their screen, and it was hardliners like Ross who were routing for the drastic solutions.

"Think about the image damage it would do if you, a hero who defended the planet, who saved one of its saviors, makes it public how Ross initiated a man hunt, one that was not approved by any political instance, how it is affecting your personal life and health. You would do the entire planet a favor if you stopped his political ambitions before they really start blooming."

Bruce just stared at Owen for a while. While he had seen himself as the victim in this mess, he never had thought about using it to his favor. It was true, while Ross certainly was dangerous and held all the power, it would be rather easy to turn all of this against him. Unless…

"Unless he finds a ways to really declare me military property, a prototype, not a human being anymore. What will happen then?"

"We'll dig out Captain America, wave his boyish good looks at the camera, state that nobody would ever dare to withdraw _his_ human rights, after all, he _is_ the prototype, call Ross a fascist, and see what happens."

That finally got a snort out of Bruce, a tiny smile. Owen just shrugged.

"Or you just go green on him and let the Hulk discuss this matter. He's been pretty good at defending you against the bolt head." By the look that the physicist sent him now Owen judged that he never had seen it this way, but started contemplating it now. Most of the time, it really had been Ross who brought out the Hulk. It had been live threatening situations each and every time the general came after him. Ross never even thought about the diplomatic way, about asking for Bruce's co-operation. He deemed him a monster and went after him, negating every ounce of humanity, of intelligence, of sentience his alter-ego might possess.

"I'd rather avoid going green, I like the clothes J.A.R.V.I.S. bought me", Bruce admitted, running a hand through his hair and accidentally touching his wound.

"Ouch… I guess I do want this band aid."

Owen rose with a groan, feeling the previous days and nights in his bones. As long as he was taking care of Tony, as long as it had not been sure that he was out of the woods he just kept going, not really feeling the exhaustion. He had let Cristina and everybody else of the team sleep, while he had been playing nurse, shrink, babysitter and surgeon at the same time.

He would take a vacation in the hot tub in his bathroom after thoroughly sleeping through the next day – once he was sure that Tony would not kick the bucket, Loki would not develop spontaneous seizures, and Bruce would not suddenly decide to become a hermit on top of a Tibetan mountain.

He only realized that he had talked to himself – and aloud – when Bruce started giggling right behind him, sending the other man a glare as he turned around with some adhesive tape strips.

"You are not allowed to comment, Mr. Banner. If there's a person in here who really needs a vacation far, far away from all this shit it is you."

He was still taping a grinning Bruce when there was a knock on the door, and Darcy was sticking her head into the room.

"Hi guys. I just wanted to let you know that Tony just woke up – and you might not want to check up on him because I barely made it out of the door unnoticed while he was busy making out with Pepper. I don't wanna be there when my maybe-brother celebrates his survival, seriously."

Bruce snorted again, while Owen made a face. First of all, Tony should be in no shape to do anything more than open his eyes, take a brief look around, and go back to sleep after being anesthetized for most of the day. Making out and other activities for sure were not on the table.

Besides that…

"You do know that you are talking about my sister, right?"

Darcy just grinned.

"Yep, but you're a big boy, and a doctor, so I guess you know where the babies are coming from. I'm gonna have J.A.R.V.I.S. lead me back to my room now, downstairs, because, seriously, I'd get lost without a navigation system in here. So… just don't go in there, ok? I totally wanna have them some us-time, and maybe a little maybe-niece or maybe-nephew comes out of that, so I'm a little bit selfish here… and… uhm… so… yeah… gonna head out of here. G'night everyone, Brucie, you owe me the story of how you hit your head, did Jane throw something at you because you dared touching one of her doohickeys glued together by Barbie-band-aids? I should stop talking… been awake too long, didn't get enough sleep in the past days… worrying is exhausting, and I don't even know if I'm related to him… anyway, going to bed, now. Hehe, take me to bed, Jarv!"

She turned around, waving at no-one in particular, laughing when the artificial intelligence answered with an amused " _It will be my pleasure, Miss Lewis. Please head towards the elevator_."

The two men just shared a look.

"She definitely has Tony's ability to talk a mile a minute without making much sense, or covering thirty different topics in three sentences. J.A.R.V.I.S., the DNA test already done?"

" _I am finished with the test, Dr. Hunt. However, I would like to inform_ Sir _of the results first. I hope you understand. And Miss Lewis was exaggerating._ Sir _has gone back to sleep after waking up already for the second time. Mrs. Stark is awake and has asked whether it is alright to let_ Sir _sleep. I have taken the liberty to affirm her question."_

Both Drs. nodded, sharing another look. Actually, Tony should get all the rest he needed.

Bruce avoided scratching his head when he looked at Owen who was still shaking his head, amused about the young woman's ramble.

"How the hell did I end up as _Brucie_ also with her?!"

* * *

Tony was still groggy in the morning when he opened his eyes for the third time, though this time he at least didn't feel like closing them again immediately to continue sleeping. Instead, he annoyed both his cardiologist and his wife to tell him in detail how the surgery had gone and what had happened in the tower while he was out.

Cristina was having none of that, listening to his heart, checking the sutures around the new reactor, and bringing the inventor up to date on what else Eír had found and healed during the surgery.

Both Pepper and Tony did not really know how to feel about learning that he had just escaped developing pancreatic cancer. Considering his lifestyle before Afghanistan, the light case of arteriosclerosis was actually something he'd expected.

According to the Æsir healer he had been surprisingly healthy for a man who had been through all the things Tony had survived, including heavy metal poisoning and the exposure to the radiation in deep space. All in all he'd been practically restored to a 20 year old on the inside, which of course made him joke on Pepper keeping herself a boy toy.

The news that both Bruce and Loki had been on the receiving end of a currently dead to the world Owen's inpatient care had made the engineer antsy. He was nonstop worrying for Loki, this much was clear after more or less adopting the young God not even a day after dragging him out of the printer room. The poor kid shouldn't have to deal with Tony's health issues, especially not being monitoring him this closely that he would feel a bone saw.

And Bruce… well, even though he was feeling slightly guilty for thinking this, a panic attack in the shower was better than the Hulk going on a rampage in the Penthouse.

"Is he alright?"

"Owen stitched him up, and I guess they had a heart to heart on how shrinks are not always the enemy", Cristina answered with one of her half smiles. To be honest, this was something she had always admired about her husband… err, ex-husband. He was working on his problems, also not shying away from psychotherapy. It had been her who had been reluctant in the beginning, shying away from the stigma that involving a therapist still carried, like putting a tramp stamp that said "mentally unstable and too weak to deal with it" on you.

Obviously, he was not always this determined – he had let his relationship with his sister deteriorate for quite some time. Actually, she felt flattered, after all, he was taking this effort for her. They'd had a bumpy road ahead of them already back then, but they'd been happy most of the time.

There were times, and these times had gotten more frequent lately, where she regretted this one moment that had torn them apart. Now that she had reached everything, had been a surgeon to her hearts content, she could not help thinking what would have been…

"Well, Ross definitely needs a shrink. Or some really good happy pills", Stark interrupted her thoughts about _would've could've_. She could not turn back the time, Owen was married, and she'd better stop reflecting over something she could not change anymore.

Cristina just hummed as an answer, making the engineer sit up to expose his back and listen to his lungs. They had sounded alright already with the old casing, better than the surgeon actually thought they should have after seeing just _how far_ the original case reached into his chest, definitely putting pressure and strain on the underlying organs.

When she was done examining her highest ranking celebrity patient, she took a step back from the bed, watching the inventor and his wife. Pepper had left it only reluctantly, vanishing only for a minute to one of the sinks to brush her teeth and make herself a bit more representable, not knowing that their cardiologist took some satisfaction from knowing that also Pepper Potts woke up with a bed head and hair sticking into every possible direction.

"Alright. From my side, you're as good as new. Avery did a good job connecting your skin to the frame, and J.A.R.V.I.S. actually worked his magic on making the entire reactor small enough to be housed in the artificial chest bone. Eír has been healing any incisions and whatever else she could find, and since we only inserted the new reactor after all of that, you should not develop any kind of inflammation. I'd like to have another look at you, soon, though. This is the first arc-reactor-driven pacemaker that I've implanted, and while it was only a benefit before that it was working also like that, now it's its main function. Your sinus node is still damaged, Mr. Stark, and this has to be monitored."

Tony opened his mouth, first of all to remind her that _Mr. Stark_ had been his father, and to tell her that monitoring his heart had been J.A.R.V.I.S.'s job since he got back from this accursed trip to Afghanistan. Pepper grabbed his hand though, talking before he could even make a sound.

"We will make another appointment as soon as Tony is back from Asgard. I heard you are applying for a position at Johns Hopkins? Boston would be a good option for us, no matter if we stay in New York or go back to Malibu."

In her mind, the CEO of Stark Industries was already going through all kinds of PR nightmares that would flare up once the news got out of Tony Stark's heart condition. They maybe could sell it as him seeing a cardiologist for preventive measures, maybe dig out (or fabricate) some medical history of Howard or Maria that justified monitoring his health without admitting that he really needed medical attention.

While this thought made the strawberry blonde frown and cringe a little, because she still had to tell her husband about the real circumstances of his parents' deaths, Cristina grinned.

"I don't have the job yet, you know? And with my rather complicated personality, I would not count on it, yet. Sure, they won't get anyone better than me, but many would deal with the second-best, or even tenth-best just to not have to deal with me. But you're a rich guy, just fly me in, huh?"

Tony just grinned back. He had so many boot-lickers around him, telling him what they thought he wanted to hear while only thinking about their own benefit. He was forthright person, not dancing around topics most of the time (hence Pepper's difficulties to see that when telling her about what a girlfriend would do meant that he wanted her to _be_ this girlfriend), and he appreciated this feat also in other people.

"Well, next to J.A.R.V.I.S. you are the expert in arc reactor-driven pacemakers, so who else should I consult? So, what's the verdict, Doc, can I get out of this bed and up to my Penthouse where there's my couch and people I like and… well… food…? Seriously, I'm hungry, I'd also eat healthy stuff, so can I go up?" Tony asked, the grin still plastered on his face.

As if to emphasize the last part of his sentence, his stomach started growling loudly, making both women in the room laugh.

* * *

Eír had waited until Fandral had left the hospital room Prince Loki had been accommodated in before even thinking about asking the ethereal voice in the ceiling for being transported to this level of the tower again.

King Thor had left the warrior as his brother's security detail, not that a seasoned mage like Loki would have needed anyone taking care of this. Amongst mortals, a wave of his hand and a simple spell would have been enough to fell a rather large amount of them without breaking into sweat.

What she had not taken into consideration until the day before, when the Prince had collapsed upon witnessing Dr. Torres cutting into the Lord Stark's bones, was how his training had been focused on honing his combat skills only.

He never thought about the many other aspects of his gift, most probably dismissing any healing magic that went beyond being able to treat battle wounds for as long as it needed to get a _real_ healer to the injured combatants.

On Asgard, it was a woman's prerogative to carry this gift. Except for the All-Father, Loki was the only male mage. She had never taken into consideration that the Prince might be no Ås, though. She had never questioned the fact that Odin was able to use magic. He was the All-Father, so shouldn't he be special?

When she thought back, though, all those years, when she still had been young, nothing more than a nurse in the healing wings of the palace, back when Borr was still King and Odin had been the Crown Prince, she thought she should have known better. She could not remember Borr being able of any magical gestures… and Queen Bestla had not been seen for centuries already back then.

There had been rumors that she had left Borr. Or that someone had taken her. That she had died. The court never really commented on her disappearance. There was no funeral. No explanation. From one day to the other she was simply obliterated from Asgard's history, and people at some point didn't put any effort in remembering an obviously unwanted Queen.

What she did know was that Borr and Odin did not really get along, and that the Crown Prince hated everything Jotnar with a passion, only waiting for the day they would give him enough reason to extinguish them.

They gave him this reason a little more than five centuries into his own kingship, and he took it without a second thought.

The child he brought home from the battlefield did not look like a Jotun. Even the soul forge recognized nothing more than an Æsir infant who should have suffered hypothermia considering the circumstances the King claimed to have found him in.

It was a wispy child, even for the lowest Æsir standards, and the head healer at this time thought loudly that it might be better to let nature take its claim. Odin had raged long enough for the Queen to show up, witness the head healer being dismissed from his position, and Eír being promoted in the same breath – with the strict order to keep the child alive, not matter the cost.

She had thought she knew Loki inside out. She had treated every sunburn, every food intolerance, every broken bone or torn muscle after he had to join Thor in combat training. She was one of the few people who knew right away that the child was not of Odin's and Frigga's blood, one of the few people who knew he would never have a claim on the throne, no matter how much better suited he proved to be in the following decades and centuries.

In the beginning, Odin seemed to agree with his wife who had taken the infant to her heart instantly, raising him as his own. Thor had been overjoyed over his baby brother back then, falling asleep more than once whilst sitting next to the crib, guarding the little boy.

She was questioning herself when everything had started to deteriorate, and realized that punishments were getting crueler and crueler around the time Loki had made it clear that his magic was a part of him that he would not dismiss. He was practicing, supported by his mother, his abilities growing each and every day.

The information she had gathered only a day before, when she had examined an unconscious Loki whose head was pillowed in the lap of one of Asgard's deadliest warrior's, made a lot of puzzle pieces fall in place, suddenly, many things started to make sense. Fandral never was leaving the Prince's side, though, and he was watching her very closely, so she had not dared investigating Loki's condition more thoroughly, and so she was left with yet another mystery.

She had heard of the Khunsa of Jotunheim, it had still been a topic during her education when she was training to be a healer. Later generations, though, were not trained anymore to treat individuals of all the nine realms. Odin decreed that Æsir healers had enough to do with treating the Æsir.

How she never had seen the connection was beyond her.

Æsir men could not wield magic.

Odin was half Jotun, though.

Jotnar were prone to magic, no matter what gender they showed. All of them could at least bend the ice to their will.

The Khunsa exceeded every other mage, no matter the realm.

And Loki…

Loki's abilities would soon be exceeding those of the All-Father, and all his trials to subdue the young man, to break him, had not worked out.

She needed to find out more. The young Prince had the physical appearance of an Ås, yet, his being a hermaphrodite had been disguised so excellently that nobody would have ever found out.

The glamor had broken, somehow, and still, the person who should have been a Frost Giant by the appearance of his innards was rather a mixture between an Ås and a Jotun.

Still standing in front of the door the artificial intelligence had pointed out to her she finally raised her hand to knock, only to have it caught in a large, tanned palm.

Steel blue eyes were looking at her, a face that normally was lit up by laughter and mischievous thoughts staring down at her with a sincerity that she did not connect with the man in front of her.

"You will examine him and heal what needs to be healed. And only if he wants your services. You will not catechize him. You will not upset him. You will not force information upon him – he will come if he wants to know more."

Fandral had only briefly left the infirmary in search of some food. Loki had woken a few minutes ago, asking for something to eat, and another one of these pills that made the headache go away.

The fact alone that he was asking for something to relieve the pain told the soldier that he was nowhere near recovered, so he would follow his duty as security detail – and make sure that his charge was just this – secure.

This included keeping Eír from spilling unwanted information in this situation. Loki had had enough problems throughout his life, throughout the past two years even more so. The last thing he needed in the moment was an embarrassing conversation about his genitals or whatever else the healer had wanted to discuss after sneaking in on the Prince when she was sure he was alone.

Bless J.A.R.V.I.S. for being so wise inform him about the Lady Eír hovering in front of Loki's room for quite some time, being deep in thought.

He brushed by the flustered head healer, moving into the room and taking his place right next to the bed, putting a glass of water on the bedside table, and handing over some roasted bread to the man who was still more lying than sitting.

"The Lady Calliope said you should eat something before taking any medication. Or you could just let Eír treat you and be done with it", the Swordsman said without even glancing at the healer who was still standing at the door.

Green eyes flitted into her direction as Loki took the toast out of Fandral's hand.

"The Ladies April and Calliope have been taking good care of me so far. My own magic will do the rest."

It was rather obvious that Loki didn't want Eír anywhere close to him. It had been hard enough to admit that he needed help, and that the scans of his body actually were accurate to the human doctor. The day before he had been unconscious and had had no other choice than letting the Æsir healer treat him.

But Eír… she had been Odin's loyal guard dog over Loki's health, so either she had known right away what he was, or also she had been left in the dark, and now wanted to know more. And Loki was nowhere near ready to reveal more.

The head healer opened her mouth, wanting to protest – after all, what could a mere human do that she could not achieve? Pills and powders and cutting people open… for the Lord Stark's condition it had been the only possible option, but she could cure a headache with just waving her hand, while…

Fandral once more stared at her, making her swallow her words. This man was closer to the Prince and the King than anyone else. She had acquired her position because she was at the right place at the right time, willing to bow to Odin's wishes. Thor already had made it more than clear that she would be dismissed should she not be able to do the same for him. And the Lord Fandral telling the King that she did not have Prince Loki's wellbeing in her mind, but her own curiosity, as well as keeping her position, would not sit well with the new All-Father.

So she changed tactics.

"It was really dangerous what you did yesterday, your Highness. Monitoring anyone's health status like you did with the Lord Stark can leave damages. You are no trained healer, you were lucky that you passed out and did not have a stroke. If you would allow me to…"

This was where Loki interrupted her, green eyes hard and uncompromising.

"Dear J.A.R.V.I.S., is there anything pointing to a stroke or an epileptic episode in my brain? I suppose the Lady April asked for scans already yesterday when I collapsed, so please enlighten us."

Fandral suppressed a grin while the Prince kept staring at the healer. J.A.R.V.I.S. made a sound that could have been a chuckle, but he disguised it neatly in the _notify strangers_ bell ring.

" _Indeed, Dr. Kepner has asked for scans already during the first time you were unresponsive. Next to an elevated heart rate and respiration I could not find anything out of the norm. As you collapsed, I performed another scan without being prompted and informed Dr. Kepner of the outcome. I hope this was in your interest, Master Loki?"_

Loki smiled as Eír's expression changed. Well, it was indeed a bit late to come now and worry about an apoplexy.

"Of course it was, my dear J.A.R.V.I.S., after all, you were trying to help me without ulterior motives. Why did the Lady April decide to call Eír?"

" _Because she worried about overdosing you with the pain medication or causing some undesired reactions. I have done some tests since then, finding that your metabolism reacts mostly normally to standard pain treatment, hence the medical assistance by Dr. Hunt last night, and Dr. Torres this morning. Your blood sample is safely stored away and will be destroyed as soon as I am sure that you are out of the woods."_

Normally, Loki would've been averse to anyone having any of his body fluids, tissue, or whatever else sample.

Interestingly, he trusted J.A.R.V.I.S. to do just what he said, destroy the sample once Loki was better. Most probably he would destroy it right away if Loki asked for it right now.

So the young God just kept looking at the healer.

"As you can see, I am in the best hands. Now, if this is all, you may leave. I do no need your services."

Eír left as flabbergasted as she had arrived, being none the wiser about the Prince's condition. As she headed down the hallway, the door of the elevator opened on its own, making her think about the entity in the building who was watching everything.

She thought she would be used to something like this, after all, Heimdall was doing pretty much the same.

She was not so sure of the benevolent intentions the Lord J.A.R.V.I.S. might have towards her person, though. It seemed that his loyalties were with Loki for some reason. Maybe she should approach the All-Father about this topic.

After all, it could only be in Thor's interest to have the best treatment possible for his adoptive brother, no matter what Loki or Fandral might have to say. And the Midgardians were not really equipped to deal with Asgardian issues. Pills and powders and scalpels… how medieval…

Fandral sighed as he watched the door close behind the healer.

"She will continue to bug you about this, you realize that, right?" he said without turning to the man in the hospital bed who slowly took a tiny bite out of his toast, before taking a deep breath and putting his meagre breakfast on the bedside table.

"I don't think I can eat anything, Fandral…"

While Loki scooted down on his pillows, burying his head in their softness and closing his eyes against the throbbing behind his eye sockets, the Blonde turned, throwing him a worried glance.

"If it is that bad, you should have…"

Loki interrupted him.

"I don't want her near me. I don't want her to have anything on me, and by extension, on Thor. I… I just want to sleep, and not have to think about the mess that is my life…"

The Swordsman sighed again, his hand finding the younger God's fingers, gently squeezing them.

"I will go and find the Lady Calliope."

* * *

Thor by now was used to be greeted by the Lord J.A.R.V.I.S. in one of friend Tony's suits when he re-materialized on the balcony of the Stark Tower.

Thus, he was rather surprised when this time no-one was waiting for him, asking him to enter Penthouse. After a few confused glances he marched up to the door, finding it open, so he let himself in.

A soft noise made him turn towards the living area, finding Darcy on the couch, hugging someone… the Lady Pepper?

Taking a closer look his frown just grew and his confusion elevated. The surgery had gone well, he had seen the friend Tony being awake and out of bed when he quickly checked this morning whilst sitting on Hliðskjálf, weeding out more of Odin's rotten fruits in the Court who tried blocking any progress Thor tried to initiate. By the Norns, at least now the absolute Monarchy played in the Thundergod's favor. They soon realized that he was in no mood to discuss the changes he made, and the smarter and more progressive members of the Court seemed to get the picture he was aiming for, and thus were just leaning back and enjoying the show.

None of what he knew could explain the Lady Darcy's red-rimmed eyes, or the Lady Pepper sobbing against her shoulder.

The brunette was caressing the other woman's back, only now reacting to the Thunderer's presence, sniffling as she took in his confused expression.

"Heya, Thor… How are things in Godville?"

The lady Pepper lifted her head from the other woman's shoulder, wiping away the tears underneath her eyes as she sat up more straight and tried to smoothen her appearance.

"Aggravating and too political for my liking. What has happened here?"

Darcy sighed while Pepper stared at her folded fingers in her lap, swallowing hard and definitely not ready to say anything, so the younger woman answered.

"Well. Obviously, I'm a Stark", she shrugged, making Thor frown even more. He had thought that the friend Tony was rather excited about the possibility of gaining a sibling, so this did not explain the two distressed females. Except…

"You also revealed the circumstances of Howard and Maria Stark's deaths?" he asked, only to see the Lady Pepper's eyes water again, and Darcy reaching out to comfort the other woman.

It seemed that her husband had not reacted kindly to her keeping this from him.

Darcy simply nodded. Up to now, the engineer had always been a mild tempered, slightly eccentric, sarcastic, and funny guy. Her head had still been spinning from finally having the confirmation about who was her sire when Pepper's expression had changed and she told them that there was one thing more that she needed to tell them.

Tony had looked at her, asking if it was about the thing she didn't want to tell him before the surgery.

"Yep. To be honest, I didn't think that Tony would explode like this."

Darcy herself did not know what to think. She had never know her, well, father. Sure, her mother had told her more than once that it was the old guy that had died already, but to her, he still was an abstract figure… for Tony, on the other hand…

"He's locked himself up in his workshop and is refusing to talk to anyone. J.A.R.V.I.S. is muted throughout the tower, Bruce is walking a ditch into his bedroom floor since he witnessed the shouting, and I don't know what to do."

 _How the fuck is this my life?_

Darcy just looked at the Thundergod who looked as clueless as she felt. Everybody should be happy! Tony had survived his stint with _the Other_ , he seemed overjoyed to have a baby sister now, and then BAM! the next FUCK YOU! note from the universe arrived.

Flexing his fingers around the crate that carried the Tesseract, Thor took a deep breath, and then also sighed.

"I suppose this needs something stronger than chocolate to be able to cope with it? Shall I raid the Lord Stark's liquor storage?"

While Darcy sniffled once more, simultaneously sending the Blonde a small, but amused smile, Pepper started sobbing again, making the younger woman embrace her once more.

Holding the bewildered Darcy's gaze, the Thunderer sighed once more.

Right. No booze for the Lady Pepper and her unborn child. Putting the crate away in one of the pocket dimensions he walked up to the couch, sitting down heavily next to the two females

Why did everything always have to be so complicated? Couldn't things, at least once, just run smoothly?

"Is my brother around? Maybe he has a suggestion how to approach this dilemma."

The only answer he received was another downcast glance, making him ask himself if maybe he should have kept a closer look on all of the people in the tower.

Folding his hands in his lap he looked at Darcy again.

"Would you please update me what happened here since I left? Somehow I feel like I entered a completely different place."

The younger woman sent him a weary smile.

"Yeah… welcome to the Twilight Zone."

* * *

 ** _Author's note:_** _Dears, this is it, the chapter that refused to be written... I honestly hope the next one won't take so long. And I promise it will be happier._

 _Cheers!_

 _Eve_


End file.
